Saviour Sacco was rummaging through his personal belongings at a residential home in Ħamrun when his fingers brushed against two sheets of yellowing, brittle paper.

Typed out in the old mono-spaced font of a typewriter was an account of his brush with death 66 years ago, when he was still a boy.

And as the winds howled, causing large waves to sweep a number of cars into the sea at the Ċirkewwa quay on Sunday, the 75-year-old decided to send the two sheets to the newsroom of the Times of Malta.

“I hope that my story will serve as an eye-opener to others,” Mr Sacco told the Times of Malta. A bubbly man with an infectious laugh, he described himself as a pilot and still flies his friend’s four-seater plane.

“I have to undergo medical tests every six months to make sure my eyes, ears and feet are still in good working order. It’s rather tiresome,” he chuckled.

He kept up his love of writing, penning nearly 200 poems, some of which commemorate his treasured, late wife.

“I had written this account when I was still a young man,” he said.

It was June 5, 1949, a bright summer’s day with fine weather. A nine-year-old Mr Sacco was about to have his first swim of the year. His brother-in-law, Tony, hired a car and Mr Sacco joined his mother, siblings and two of brother-in-law’s sisters on a trip to Għajn Tuffieħa.

When they got there, the party set up a tent and the young Mr Sacco and his brother-in-law prepared for a swim. The sea was rough and, despite the red flag on top of the hill, they plunged into the water and swam about 100 metres away from shore, thinking very little of the looming danger.

They eventually got tired and, as the waves rose higher, they began to make their way back. But they soon realised they were unable to do so because the current had become stronger. After a few minutes’ struggle, Mr Sacco lost sight of his brother-in-law.

“Then another wave came and took away all my breath. I tried to breathe but, as I did, another wave washed over me and made me swallow a lot of water. After about 10 minutes, I was approximately 45 metres from land but, by then, all my strength had begun to ebb.”

As he swallowed more and more water, he felt himself growing heavier. He thought there was no hope of saving himself because all his efforts and struggles seemed to be in vain.

And I felt my feet touch the bottom! I could not believe my own senses

Despairing and panic-stricken, his faith took hold and he turned towards the Virgin Mary, shouting out “Marija”. A few metres away, an Englishman was swimming out. Mr Sacco was about to try to gesture for help but he thought twice, thinking that he might risk clinging onto the Englishman and drown him too.

He tried to warn him of the danger but was unable to muster the strength to shout. The man was later picked up, almost unconscious and given artificial respiration.

A few minutes later, a monstrous wave engulfed Mr Sacco and, nearly unconscious, he gave himself up to its mercy. “All I could see was a milky liquid pouring down upon me from a dizzying height. But, to my great astonishment, I found that it had carried me a good deal towards the beach. And I felt my feet touch the bottom! I could not believe my own senses.”

He tried to walk but his feet were too weak to support him so he crawled. A few metres away, his brother-in-law was strewn half dead across the beach. Mr Sacco dragged his feet towards him and dropped down beside him out of sheer exhaustion.

“I think that nobody was none the wiser as to what happened because the waves had carried us a long way to the right instead of towards the middle of the beach, where we were aiming for.

“After about a quarter of an hour, we got up and went near our relatives, saying nothing of our encounter with the waves.”

It was 5pm by the time they got dressed and ate some food, thinking of how “poor old Robinson Crusoe” might have felt in his own adventures.

Later, when the two discussed matters, his brother-in-law confessed that he had also shouted out “Marija” and that She had saved him.

Exactly 15 years later, on June 5, 1964, Mr Sacco’s son Eric Mario was born.