A cruise ship company has included Malta in its itinerary after removing Tunis in the wake of a terrorist attack that killed 21 people.

Those killed by gunmen who stormed the Bardo Museum on Wednesday included 17 cruise passengers, who were on an excursion, after their respective ships docked in the Tunisian capital.

Joe Borg, a spokesman for Hamilton Travel, agents for MSC, said the Italian company decided to replace Tunis with Malta for its Western Mediterranean cruise.

After the attack, MSC said it was dropping Tunis as a stopover port for the rest of the year.

“The company immediately chose Malta as a replacement,” Mr Borg said.

Of the cruise passengers killed, 12 were holidaying on the MSC Splendida, while five were cruising with the Fascinosa, from Costa, another Italian company.

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