Relatives, friends and Armed Forces of Malta personnel on September 7 gathered at Maritime Squadron's Haywharf Base in Floriana for a service in memory of the seven personnel lost in the 1984 patrol boat tragedy.

Patrol boat C-23 was on a dumping detail of illegally manufactured fireworks that tragic morning 20 years ago. It was a routine operation which followed the Police's find and seizure of the fireworks in the limits of Zabbar a day earlier. Bombardier Joseph Pace, 36 of Santa Venera, Gunner William Simpson, 36 of Lija, Private Anthony Vella, 20 of Ghajnsielem, Gozo, Police Sergeant Saviour Muscat, 30 of Birkirkara, and Police Constable Joseph Hare, 24 of Sliema, perished in the violent explosion on board the patrol boat, some two miles off Qala Point in Gozo.

The remains of 36-year-old Bombardier Francis Borg of Hamrun and 27-year-old Private Anthony Farrugia of Zejtun were never found. Only Private Emmanuel Montesin, 21 of Paola, survived. The AFM Commander, Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and the Police Commissioner Mr. John Rizzo attended the Mass celebrated by the AFM Chaplain, Reverend Lawrence Zammit. Relatives of the deceased soldiers and policemen, including the sole survivor were also present. Wreaths were later laid at the foot of the monument erected at Haywharf in memory of the seven soldiers who perished in the line of duty.

Afterwards, the same Swift-class patrol boat (now re-designated 'P-23') and the Vittoria-class Search and Rescue (SAR) launch 'Melita 1' conveyed the relatives to the spot where the tragedy had unfolded. Flowers and wreaths were cast into the sea during a short service on board.

A national day of mourning had been declared by Government on Saturday, September 8, 1984. Flag-draped coffins were brought to Malta on patrol boats 'C-28' and 'C-29, and a funeral cortege left St Luke's Hospital. Thousands of people gathered to pay their last
respects along the route as a Task Force AFM 48-men guard of honour, led by Captain Charles Mansueto, escorted their fallen comrades.

The Swift-class patrol boat 'C-23' had been donated in the early 1970s by the United States government, and was one of the first craft to see the founding of the then Malta Land Force's Maritime Battery at Senglea. After the incident, the patrol boat was towed for repairs at the Malta Drydocks Manoel Island Shipyard. She was later re-entered into service. With its new redesignation of 'P-23', it today still serves at 2nd Regiment's Maritime Squadron as testimony to those brave men who served on board. She conducts inshore patrols, SAR missions, and maritime law and safety enforcement duties. (More Pictures of the event can be viewed in Picture Library)