Gozo Channel vehemently denied allegations made last week by one of its captains about safety on board ferries and welcomed the inquiry that has been launched.

In a counter protest in reply to that filed by Mario Grech, who listed a number of shortcomings, the company insisted that the claims were unfounded. It warned of further legal action against Capt. Grech, saying the claims were defamatory and were aimed at harming the company and its officials.

Capt. Grech said among other things that water tanks on board three Gozo Channel ferries were infected by deadly Legionella bacteria. The company instructed the ships to cut their water supply and inform passengers that the pumps had malfunctioned should they query the water shortage, he said.

He also raised a number of serious safety breaches, which, he said, had led to him stopping three ferries from operating the crossing.

The company said Capt. Grech was chief operating officer until he resigned in December last year and was, thus, responsible for many of the safety measures he mentioned in his judicial protest.

It said Fritz Farrugia, who Capt. Grech referred to, was only app-ointed in February this year and had introduced several new health and safety procedures which Capt. Grech had not done.

The company denied that the complaints he had made to Capt. Farrugia were ignored. On the contrary, Capt. Farrugia had always acted as required. The company was regulated by the Malta Maritime Authority and audited by Bureau Veritas, which had consistently given favourable certification.

Gozo Channel said it was not true that Capt. Grech had been ordered to operate in violation of safety rules and the safety management system. Neither was it correct to say that Capt. Grech had been discriminated against and was negatively affected in the assignment of duties. Of 39 Sundays, Capt. Grech had been on duty for 23. It said Capt. Grech had failed to attend managerial meetings to discuss operations.

Gozo Channel said it was also not true that time was not being allocated for emergency drill training. Such drills were conducted regularly as required by international rules and they were all logged.

Referring to Capt. Grech's claims about the presence of Legionella in the water tanks, the company said such allegations were "alarmist" and he failed to say that the company had followed the directions of the Health Department.

Turning to claims on missing safety equipment on board the ferries, the company said there were occasions, on every ship in the world, where such equipment was not all operational but there were never instances where passengers were put in danger.

Referring to loading procedures on the ferries operating the Sa Maison cargo route, the company said it was up to every captain to ensure that his ferry was loaded in the proper manner and the management was not present when such trips were made.

Gozo Channel called upon Capt. Grech to withdraw his allegations and held him responsible for damages.

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