Franciscan friars pay tribute to drowned altar boy
15-year-old Pakistani Nadab John died on Saturday in Xghajra
Updated Monday 7.15am
The Franciscan friars of Ta' Ġieżu church in Valletta have paid tribute to the 15-year-old Pakistani youth who drowned in Xgħajra on Saturday, just six weeks after he was made an altar boy.
The teenager was found face down and unconscious in the sea near the locality's slipway on Saturday afternoon. He was pulled from the water and administered CPR for several minutes, before being taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where he later died.
On Sunday, the church took to Facebook to pay tribute to the youth, who it identified as Nadab John.
"Six weeks ago, the second investiture of the Pakistani altar servers took place. There were twelve of them, including a 15-year-old boy, the eldest among the group, who, together with his siblings, wished to serve at the altar," the church wrote.
"He promised to remain close to Jesus through his service at the altar. His parents clothed him in the white robe of an altar server, and the Provincial invested him with the Tau Cross of St. Francis, bearing the image of the Crucified Christ.
"Who could ever have imagined that just six weeks later he would leave us and go to be with the Lord whom he loved? We are certain that he is now praying for all of us."
The church asked the public to keep his parents, his siblings, his relatives, and the Pakistani community.
"Your memory at Ta' Ġieżu Church in Valletta will be kept alive but you will be truly missed," the church wrote.
The friars said Nadab John was part of a family of five who arrived in Malta with his siblings six months ago "after his parents had made many sacrifices to make this possible".
Nadab had "found a family at the Church of Ta' Ġieżu."
"He was always eager to attend the altar servers' meetings and to serve. His parents said that after his investiture as an altar server, they saw remarkable changes in him. They had never seen him so happy before," the friars said in a social media post.
His funeral will be held at the Church of Ta' Ġieżu on Friday.
The incident was one of two by the sea on Saturday. In the other, which happened at 10.30pm at Xatt is-Sajjieda in Marsaxlokk, a 19-month-old girl wandered into the sea before she was found floating unconscious in the water
The girl, a foreign national who lives in Żabbar, regained consciousness after she was pulled from the water and given CPR by her relatives.
She was taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where she was found to be in a critical condition.
The two incidents sparked calls for a national policy on life-saving training starting from school age, with the Malta Resuscitation Council pointing out less than 40 per cent of people are able to administer CPR.