Updated 9.51pm 

Two men were seriously injured this afternoon after they were scalded while working on repairs to a docked ship.

The men were dismantling a pipeline on the Costa neoRiviera at Dock 6 in Cospicua when a line in the ship's control room was accidentally opened, a Palumbo shipyard spokesman said. 

Three men were burnt by escaping steam, police said, with one suffering minor injuries and receiving treatment on the scene. The other two men, aged 23 and 52, were taken to Mater Dei hospital by ambulance at around 5.30pm. 

"We are still monitoring the situation and trying to establish exactly what happened,” the shipyard spokesman said.

The shipyard is carrying out an internal investigation, and Cospicua police are also conducting their own investigations.