(Adds funeral details)

The AFM has called off the search for Theo Bugeja, the 11-year-old boy still missing after the loss of the fishing boat Simshar two weeks ago.

Fishermen called off their search a few days ago and the AFM has now also stopped its search. A helicopter and a patrol boat were searching a wide area west of Malta up to yesterday.

AFM officers headed by Brigadier Carmel Vassallo revealed this afternoon that the Vessel Monitoring System had only recorded one VMS signal from the Simshar after it left Malta on Monday, July 7. That was on Thursday evening. And whereas the VMS normally transmits its signal automatically every two hours, the contact on Thursday was only plotted when the operator in Malta, at the request of a relative of one of the crewmen "pinged" the system - in effect asking it to locate the Simshar. No other VMS signals were received.

The officers said they were confident that the AFM had done all it could to try to locate the Simshar after it was reported missing in the evening of Saturday, July 12.

They confirmed that no debris from the boat has been found. AFM aircraft flew for more than 80 hours on search operations.

Theo's father Simon was the only survivor of the Simshar. The bodies of his Simon's father Karmenu and two other crewmen were found by fishermen. A magisterial inquiry, as well as an inquiry in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act, are currently in progress.

It was announced this evening that the funerals of two of the crewmen of the Simshar will be held this week at Marsaxlokk - Noel Carabott's on Wednesday and Karmenu Bugeja's on Thursday.