Missing girls trigger AFM search

Two Maltese-Australian teenage girls triggered an AFM search operation today when they went missing while on a lilo in Gnejna Bay. They were later found in Ghadira Bay.

Members of their family raised the alert at about 4.20 p.m. after the two girls were last seen in the bay at 11 a.m. The Maritime Squadron's Melita rescue launch, along with a dinghy from patrol boat P-61 were dispatched to the area to conduct a search. An Air Wing Alouette helicopter was also scrambled.

The operation ended when family members reported at 5.25 p.m. that the girls had been found safe in Ghadira Bay.

While the search for the girls was in progress, the Malta-registered fishing-vessel ''Giovanni Padre'' requested a medical evacuation at 3.30 p.m. when a 32-year-old Maltese crewman was found to be suffering from fever symptoms. The vessel was some 60 nautical miles South-West of Malta.

The AFM's Operations' Centre at Luqa Barracks immediately scrambled an Italian Air Force AB212 rescue-helicopter. The Italo-Maltese flight crew winch-hoisted an AFM rescuer onto the fishing-vessel to ascertain the casualty's state and stabilise him prior to the subsequent transfer to Mater Dei Hospital.