(Adds MMA statement)

A number of people were slightly injured and two needed medical assistance when the newly installed pontoon at the Blue Lagoon in Comino overturned at 5.45 p.m. yesterday injuring people who ended up under it.

The people were helped from under the pontoon by people on the scene and divers made a seach in case others were trapped there. Fortunately they found no one.

The woman who needed medical assistance was taken to Mgarr where an ambulance was waiting to take her to the Gozo hospital.

In a statement the MMA said that the incident was caused because the pontoon was overloaded with passengers departing from Comino to Gozo and Malta.

The pontoon was installed earlier this summer as part of the MMA’s campaign to ensure the safety of swimmers at sea and was designed as a transfer platform so that passengers could embark and disembark from the ferry boats to the shore without the boats getting too close to the bathing area.

It said investigations indicated that passengers overcrowded the pontoon making it unstable and causing it to capsize. Two persons were admitted to hospital after sustaining minor injuries and were discharged shortly after receiving treatment.

The MMA apologised for the inconvenience and regretted the distress suffered by the people involved in this incident. It said it would be re-assessing the arrangements for the embarkation/disembarkation of passengers at Blue Lagoon.

It again appealed to boat owners to respect the demarcation lines of the swimmer zones, to proceed towards bathing areas with extreme caution and to refrain from using swimmer zone lines as a means of anchorage.