THE TRAGEDY OF UM EL FAROUD
On a still and quiet evening in February 1995, as the clock ticked past 10:15 PM and darkness enveloped the drydocks, a sudden and terrifying explosion shook Cottonera. News quickly spread that something awful had happened on the Um El Faroud, a Libyan tanker that was in Malta for important repair works.
The tanker which was built in 1969 in the UK but was owned by the General National Transport Company of Tripoli, had been transporting refined fuel for decades across the Mediterranean Sea. It was now resting in Malta’s Dock 3, having its pipework re-done and its cargo tanks blasted.
On that particular night, the 3rd of February, sixteen crew members from the ship stayed aboard in their accommodation while the Maltese drydock workers carried out the repairs. Working against the clock to make sure the Um El Faroud would be seaworthy in no time at all, no one expected their routine tasks, something they had done many times before, would turn deadly.
Monument to the lives lost in Bormla. Source: one.com.mt
Soon the ship would become the site of a great disaster. One of the workers had been cutting through a valve on the ship’s deck near pipework on the deck above a tank when sparks from his tool accidentally flew into an open (man)hole. Inside the hole were dangerous, invisible gases that hadn’t been properly cleared out from the tank—a safety step that should have been done before the work began. The spark ignited those gases, and in a split second, the tanker became a deadly fireball.
The explosion ripped through the ship. The blast was so powerful that it shook the entire area. Houses in nearby towns, like Senglea, felt the force of the fireball. Windows shattered, and the mighty tanker was left in ruins. The deck of the 115-metre-long ship was blown upwards and twisted open like a tin of sardines. One resident from Cospicua saw a column of fire rise up from Dock 3, almost as tall as the clock of Senglea.
Seven workers died instantly in the explosion. Young Simon Pisani, only 22 years old from Msida, and his fellow workers, Charles Callus, 46, Mario Hales, 39, Simon Mifsud, 26 (of Vittoriosa), George Aquilina, 24, Angelo Sciberras, 51, and Anthony Vassallo, 29, were all gone in the blink of an eye. These men had families, dreams, and futures that were tragically cut short.
Source: Court Archive
Source: Malta Independent
Paul Seguna and his family. Source: Times of Malta
Two others, Paul Seguna, 37, and George Xuereb, 58, were gravely injured. They were rushed to the hospital, but despite the doctors’ best efforts, they did not survive. In the ambulance, George Xuereb, confused and in pain, asked what had happened to his friends, not knowing they had already passed away. The wives and families of the workers on the Um El Faroud began to gather outside the dock in Cospicua’s Gavinu Gulia Square, their faces sick with worry, waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones.
The scene was heartbreaking. Amid the wreckage, the body of one man lay face upwards under heavy steel pipes, water from a broken fire line pouring over him as if nature itself mourned his loss. It was a sight that would haunt those who saw it, a reminder of the devastation that had just occurred. In a cruel twist of fate, on the night of the explosion, Angelo Sciberras, a chargeman from Żabbar, wasn’t even supposed to be at work. He had swapped shifts with a colleague. Spookily, Angelo’s father had also died in a work accident at Dock 3, falling six floors when he was 51 years old, the same age his son Angelo was when he perished. The funeral of the nine victims took place in the Parish Church of Paola. An investigation later confirmed what everyone feared: the blast was a tragic accident caused by a single spark igniting the trapped gases inside the tanker. The explosion was so massive that it echoed through Malta’s history, a disaster not seen since the dark days of World War Two.
The families of the victims fought for justice, and while they received compensation from the government, no amount of money could ever replace the lives lost that night. In 1998, after the inquiry was completed, the Um El Faroud made its final voyage. The tanker was sunk off the coast of Wied iż-Żurrieq in the south of Malta to act as an artificial reef. The ship, now a home for fish and a site for divers, serves as a memorial. A brass plaque on the ship honours the nine men who lost their lives, reminding everyone of the dangers faced by those who work at sea and in the docks. At the entrance to Cospicua, in Triq Daħlet it-Tlett Ibliet (Entrance to the Three Cities Street), a monument also commemorates those who died on that fateful day in February 1995.
The tragedy of the Um El Faroud is a story of loss and sorrow, forever remembered in Malta’s history. It shows the importance of safety and the high price that can be paid when things go wrong.
Credit for content research goes to:
- ‘Twenty-five years since Malta was plunged into national mourning as a result of the Um El Faroud explosion’ by Ritianne Agius. Accessed August 2024: https://tvmnews.mt/en/news/rajt-kolonna-nar-tielgha-daqs-l-arlogg-tal-isla-jiftakar-l-ispluzjoni-tal-um-el-faroud/
- ‘26 years ago today: the Um El Faroud tragedy’ by Albert Galea. Accessed August 2024: https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2021-02-03/local-news/26-years-ago-today-the-Um-El-Faroud-tragedy-6736230690
- ‘The night the Um El Faroud blew up’ by Christopher Scicluna. Accessed August 2024: Timesofmalta.com/article/the-night-the-um-el-faroud-blew-up.768133
- ‘Dead bodies were strewn on the dock’s ground’ – 25 years since dockyard tragedy, Times of Malta. Accessed August 2024: https://timesofmalta.com/article/dead-bodies-were-strewn-on-the-docks-ground-25-years-since-dockyard.767908