The AFM said this afternoon it was continuing its search for 11-year-old Theo Bugeja, the only person still missing following the sinking of the fishing boat Simshar over a week ago.

A helicopter of the Italian Military Mission and an AFM patrol boat are in the search area along with a number of Maltese fishing vessels.

The AFM expressed its appreciation for the support afforded to it in connection with the search, including the Italian, Libyan, Tunisian and United States authorities, as well as the Italian Military Mission in Malta and several Maltese fishing vessels.

Reacting to criticism, the AFM said its Operations’ Centre was notified by a relative of one the crew members that the Simshar was missing on Saturday 12th July, at 7.20 p.m. Consequently, no searches could have been conducted before that.

"On receipt of the information, the AFM’s actions were immediate, practically within minutes of being alerted of the fishing boat being overdue. AFM Operations’ Centre staff adhered to standard international procedures by initiating a communications search which included, at the AFM’s request, repeated calls by Palermo Radio, Lampedusa Radio and Malta Radio. A PAN-PAN message, which is a voice procedure giving a description of the incident in question, was also sent out on merchant vessel frequencies at regular intervals. Other repeated calls continued by Malta Radio to Simshar.

"Furthermore, the AFM P-51 patrol boat, returning from an illegal migrants’ incident close to Lampedusa was informed of this overdue vessel, and instructed to keep a lookout for it. Also, an AFM aircraft which was on coastal patrol was also alerted to keep a sharp look-out for the overdue vessel.

"Concurrent to all these ongoing efforts, contacts were made at various levels between Maltese, Libyan, Tunisian and Italian authorities to verify if this vessel had for any reason entered their ports. Meanwhile enquiries with relatives were on-going. Acting on the information that they were receiving, the AFM can safely say that they left no stone unturned in the efforts that were being undertaken to locate the overdue vessel or its survivors."

The AFM also reiterated that it did not preclude any fishing vessel from setting sail to search for the overdue boat. In fact, both relatives and representatives of the Fisheries Co-operative were separately invited to AFM Headquarters and briefed on the conduct of the search operation. Discussions concerning the probable area of drift where likely contact could be made with the Simshar were also held. The fishing vessels as a matter of fact searched in the indicated area.