The autopsy on Kurt Gauci, the 21-year-old policeman who died after he drove on the wrong quay to board the Gozo Channel ferry and ended up in the sea, has established that he drowned, according to police sources.
The incident happened early on Friday morning when Mr Gauci arrived for the 5.45 a.m. ferry early and decided to take a quick nap. When the time came to board he was still asleep and witnesses said somebody knocked on his car window to wake him up.
The car windows had steamed up and Mr Gauci may have been disoriented when he started to drive off, witnesses said. It was still dark at the time and Mr Gauci drove his green Hyundai Accent right past the ferry and took the wrong quay into the sea.
Witnesses said nobody jumped into the sea to try and rescue him and by the time help arrived, about 30 minutes later, it was too late.
Gozo Channel has launched an internal inquiry, but it has remained silent on what action it is taking in the interim. The company would not reply to questions sent yesterday to establish what was being done to prevent a similar tragedy.
“It is inappropriate to comment in light of the ongoing investigations,” the company said.
A visit to Ċirkewwa yesterday shows barriers have now been put up to block off the area where the accident took place.
The family are still coming trying to come to terms with Mr Gauci’s untimely death and his parents and 24-year-old brother Gavin could not find the strength to talk about him yesterday.
His aunt, Marlene Camilleri, who was at the family home in Gozo, said nobody could make any sense of what happened. She described her nephew as a happy-go-lucky child, who was always helpful and loved music.
The young man, who joined the police force in June 2010, was busy remixing tracks in his spare time and working as a DJ at private events.
Known as Kukz in music circles, he started deejaying two years ago and more recently got into producing music and experimenting with sounds, according to a website where he uploaded his remixes and wrote his own short biography to promote his services.
Mr Gauci was always into music, from classic tunes to techno, minimal, and “any kind of music which helps me get in the mood”, but his favourite genre was “definitely groovy tech-house”.
One of his last posts on his Facebook page was on Thursday at 8.45 a.m., expressing disdain that he could not enjoy the weekend to the max. He wrote: “Weekend is approaching, and I’m sick... grande!”
His last post was a few hours later at 11.44 a.m. when he put up one of his favourite original mixes, Got Me Down, by Pig and Dan.
Several friends who posted comments on Mr Gauci’s Facebook page expressed their sorrow through music, a medium Mr Gauci used to portray his own emotions; one of his own EPs was titled Sentimental Journey.
Mr Gauci’s funeral is being held at St George’s Basilica, Victoria, tomorrow at 4 p.m.