De Marco meets students who witnessed attack on coach

The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Mario de Marco, this morning met language students who had witnessed an attack on their coach driver during the transport strike. He apologised for the experience.

Dr de Marco said the Maltese were known as a hospitable people, and he hoped that the students would enjoy that hospitality while in Malta.

The students were in a coach which was attacked by striking public transport drivers outside St Dorothy School in Zebbug on Tuesday morning.

Dr de Marco called on the students at Sir Temi Zammit School in Mtarfa. He was accompanied by the chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority, Sam Mifsud, and the CEO, Josef Formosa Gauci.

They spent some time chatting with the students about Malta and the importance of language studies within the tourism industry. They also handed out small souvenirs, books and publicity literature about Malta.

The students in comments to reporters described how they had seen a man banging on their coach. Despite attempt to hold him back, he boarded their coach and punched the driver.

The students – mostly Italian and some Romanians – said they understood that strikes happened some time, but they were otherwise enjoying their stay. They were grateful for the attention shown to them.