The Armed Forces of Malta have held a commemorative ceremony at Hay Wharf Base to mark the tragedy of the 7th of September 1984, in which seven personnel perished in the violent explosion on board AFM patrol boat C23, some two miles off Qala Point in Gozo.

Patrol boat C-23 was on a dumping detail of illegally manufactured fireworks. The AFM said that it was a routine operation which followed the Police’s find and seizure of the fireworks in the limits of Zabbar a day earlier.

A commemorative mass was led by the AFM Chaplain and the Malta Police Force Chaplain, with the attendance of the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta and the Commissioner of the Malta Police Force, together with relatives and other ex-serving members.

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