Update: An injured 63-year old fisherman is being medically evacuated to Mater Dei Hospital, after he was bitten by an eel.

The Armed Forces of Malta’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC Malta) at Luqa was alerted at 6.45pm this evening via the freephone ”112” emergency phone-number, that the Gozitan-born John Carabott required medical assistance. He was part of a crew onboard the 52-foot long FV "Giovanni Padre."

The fishing-vessel was located some 93.97 nautical miles from Malta, and is steering a course towards Malta at speed. RCC Malta has dispatched an Italian Military Mission AB-212 rescue-helicopter at 8.45pm this evening, with a joint Italian Air Force and AFM crew onboard to render assistance as necessary, and evacuate the fisherman safely to hospital.

The rescue-helicopter’s ETA back to Malta is estimated at circa 22.50hrs.

The AFM rescue mission was aborted last night due to severe weather conditions in the area, it got underway again early this morning.

Permalink: Medical evacuation underway of injured Gozitan fisherman