I would like to express my gratitude towards the Police Force, the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta and the staff on duty at Mater Dei Hospital, for saving my son, Aaron Borg, from a certain, horrible death when he was in difficulty in the sea, half a mile off the Dragonara point, in the early hours of Sunday, October 3.

If it weren’t for their swift action and dedication, my son would have drowned after being in those dark waters for three hours. Our gratitude goes also, and especially, to those people who heard his cries from the SAS Radisson, as if it wasn’t for them reporting to the police, no one would have known what was happening. My family’s gratitude towards all these people involved in saving our son shall remain forever.

From what I’ve gathered from one of the people of the SAS Radisson present at the time, it only took five minutes for the police to be on the scene, and only 30 minutes for the two patrol boats to reach the area and rescue my son. We shall not only be thankful to these people but also proud of having such an outstanding rescue service.

May I take the opportunity to refer to the article on page 2 of The Times (October 4) referring to this same story, in which it was wrongly reported that Aaron was swimming with friends in the area when he found himself in difficulties and had to be saved by the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta. This was not the case. The facts are that he was chased by a group of youths, about seven of them, in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. My son ran away, with the youths chasing him, and he dived into the sea, still wearing all his clothes, to avoid being beaten by them. He swam as fast as he could until he got tired, this is when he got dragged out by the sea current. Apparently, according to a story in The Times of October 6, another couple was attacked, exactly at the same place, same night, by a group of thugs, also for no apparent reason.

These unprovoked attacks seem to be becoming a normal thing in Paceville these days, going by the stories I’ve heard these last couple of days. It seems that groups of youths are ganging up in Paceville, constantly looking for trouble, on the lookout to pick their next victim. These thugs should be brought to order before someone gets killed. The report in The Times says it all. Maybe it would be a better idea if the police on duty at Paceville should be spread out rather than concentrated in one area.