Search for fishing boat continues

Hope springs eternal, and so fisherman Amante Bugeja yesterday set out in search of his relatives, including his brother and nephew, who are among the group on a Maltese fishing boat reported missing on Saturday.

"Accidents can happen at sea... but I don't want to think about anything bad that might have occurred," Mr Bugeja said in a hopeful but worried tone muffled by the wind as The Times contacted him out at sea.

Mr Bugeja said he and his nephews set out aboard his fishing boat Madonna tal-Karmnu in search of his brother Karmenu, his nephew Simon and Simon's young son Teo.

Another man, Noel Carabott, in his late 20s, is also on the Simshar that had been due to return on Friday, Fisheries Cooperative chairman Raymond Bugeja said. Another fishing boat, the Gregale, also joined the search for the missing boat.

Describing the weather as calm, Amante Bugeja explained that he set out from Marsaxlokk at about midday and headed southwest in search of his relatives. "We'll try our best to find them sooner rather than later," he said as he went on to explain that he came from a family of fishermen.

"Such a thing never happened in the family so far as I can recall... We've always returned home safely," he said.

The Armed Forces of Malta yesterday continued with their search for the Simshar. The AFM launched the search on Saturday evening after relatives reported that the vessel had not turned up on Friday evening as expected. Attempts to contact the fishermen by VHF marine radio and satellite phone proved fruitless, the AFM said. The Tunisian and Libyan authorities have been informed and asked to provide any information they might have regarding the fishing vessel. A radar-equipped Atlantique aircraft of the Italian Navy and a US Navy Sixth Fleet P3 Orion aircraft joined the search yesterday.

An AFM twin-engine Islander aircraft and an AB212 helicopter of the Italian Military Mission based in Malta also participated in the operation.