Żabbar butcher lost at sea

A Żabbar butcher who sailed out in his small boat on Wednesday morning did not return and the army has mounted an intensive search.

Mario Axiaq, 58, left on his 13-foot boat at 5am from St Thomas Bay, in Marsascala and was meant to return in the afternoon. The family raised the alarm at about 6pm when he did not turn up.

The Armed Forces of Malta immediately started a search which was suspended during the night and restarted at sunrise.Unfortunately, so far, there has been no trace of either the man or his boat.

Family members said that Mr Axiaq was meant to be fishing a few miles out of the bay, “close to the ships at San Tumas”.

This is possibly a reference to Hurd’s Bank, an area off the Marsascala coast where large ships regularly drop anchor for bunkering purposes. It is also a popular haunt for amateur fishermen in the area.

The family was baffled by the fact that the most recent signal from Mr Axiaq’s mobile phone came from the Dingli repeater. Mr Axiaq never mentioned Dingli to his family.

A fisherman from Żabbar said that when he last spoke to Mr Axiaq on Tuesday, the missing man did not speak about fishing off Dingli.

The army search covers an area ranging from the south east to Għajn Tuffieħa, all the way round to St Paul’s Bay.

A fixed wing aircraft, an Italian Military Mission helicopter and a number of patrol boats were deployed.