An injured Maltese fisherman was this morning airlifted to hospital by the same AFM rescuer who rescued him 13 years ago after another mishap.

Bombardier Ivan Gauci winched fisherman John Carabott, 63, onto an Alouette helicopter this morning after a rescue attempt during the night had to be aborted after several attempts because of a 20-knot wind and near two-metre high waves some 94 nautical miles off Malta.

The fisherman, part of the crew of the fishing-vessel "Giovanni Padre", was bitten by an eel while fishing. He suffered a 10-centimetre long rip in the flesh, which bled quite profusely and later requiring some 20 stitches.

The AFM said that during the night, an Italian Military Mission AB-212 rescue-helicopter flown by a joint Italo-Maltese crew, made several attempts to winch up the casualty, but failed given the weather conditions.

Earlier this morning though, as the fishing boat came closer to Malta, an AFM Air Wing Alouette rescue helicopter reached it 63 NM off Delimara Point, and evacuated Mr Carabott to Mater Dei Hospital for further urgent medical treatment for his injury.