Gozo tragedy remembered with flowers after 63 years
Fr Charles Vella (first left) and Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono throwing flowers into the sea to commemorate the tragedy 63 years ago that claimed the lives of 23 people. Photo: DOI
Flowers were cast into the sea yesterday to mark 63 years since the tragedy in which 23 people died in the channel betwen Malta and Gozo when the boat they were on capsized in rough seas.
On that fateful day in 1948 only four people survived after the luzzu they were travelling on capsized just before reaching Ħondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo. The boat had left from Marfa. The dead included two policemen and a woman, in the biggest tragedy to hit the channel after World War II.
The tragic event was commemorated yesterday on board a Gozo Channel ship where Mass was celebrated. Relatives of some of the survivors, along with Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, later threw yellow flowers into the sea.
The Mass was celebrated by Fr Charles Vella. The event, organised by the Gozo Ministry’s committee for national celebrations, was also attended by other Gozitan MPs.
In 1998 a monument commemorating the tragedy was erected at Żewwieqa.
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Raymond Sammut
Oct 31st 2011, 12:52
Was an inquest ever held by the Maltese government?
I have vivid recollections of people still traveling on that kind of boat --crowded-- across the channel back in the sixties --without any police regulation whatsoever.
Erecting monuments, celebrating mass and all such nonsense is vintage Maltese behavior --and to my mind is sickening. So again I like to ask: was an inquest ever held by the Maltese government?
For example:
1) Who was the owner of that boat?
2) What government license was the boat operating under?
3) How many passengers was the boat allowed to carry?
4) Had the maritime authorities been informed before the boat left its berth at Marfa?
5) If an inquest had been held by the Maltese government, were the results ever published in the public interest?
Is Malta a country that complies with maritime international laws, or is Malta a backward country that believes in magic?