Boxing Day sea tragedy a fisherman wants to keep alive

It is known as the Malta Boat Tragedy and is the worst accident at sea in the Mediterranean since World War II and, yet, despite a decade-long investigation, the details of the tragedy remain sketchy.

Past midnight on Boxing Day 1996 in the Malta-Sicily channel, a Maltese vessel berthed alongside the Yioham cargo ship with hundreds of illegal immigrants on board and 283 of them were forced to transfer to the Maltese vessel, which could barely hold 100.

This is when tragedy struck.

The Maltese boat collided with the larger ship and sank. Only 29 immigrants were rescued by the Yioham. The rest drowned. The corpses of some of them were later found by fishermen when their remains got caught in the nets.

Fisherman Salvatore Lupo is determined the Yioham victims would not be forgotten. In M magazine, out tomorrow with The Times, Mr Lupo recounts the Yioham tragedy to Herman Grech.

In the Memories section, Justin Camilleri remembers actor Joseph Calleia who, from humble beginnings in Rabat, made his way to the silver screen, starring alongside Hollywood legends such as Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles and Charlton Heston.

M also sits down with Archbishop Paul Cremona and flips through his photo album.

As male perspectives, Veronica Stivala takes three couples out for a ride and lets the women judge the men's driving; Giselle Scicluna laments the various and admittedly creative ways in which men waste time and Moira Mizzi tackles men and hypochondria, a mysterious disorder for which there is still no single explanation that identifies its source and causes.

M magazine is published by Allied Newspapers Limited and produced by MediaMaker Ltd. Its editor is Stanley Borg.