Mary Grace Sciberras will never forget the harrowing scene she saw in hospital 30 years ago, after her family was awoken in the middle of the night and told their father, Angelo, had been “slightly injured” at work.

“When we arrived in hospital someone approached my brother and asked him whether he could recognise our father. They told us he had, in fact, died,” Sciberras, then a young woman in her early twenties, recalled.

“I will never forget the scene I saw that day. His body was not in one piece.”

Angelo was one of nine dockyard workers killed in a powerful explosion at the then state-owned Malta Drydocks 30 years ago – a tragedy that will remain one of the darkest chapters in Malta’s industrial history and one of the worst workplace tragedies since the war.

The explosion rocked the dockyard on the night of February 3, 1995, when the 3,000-tonne Libyan tanker Um El Faroud, which was docked for repairs, blew up.

The blast was caused by an accumulation of flammable vapour that ignited at about 10.30pm, devastating the middle and bow sections of the 115-metre-long vessel.

It killed seven workers on the spot, with another two dying of their injuries shortly afterwards.

The victims were Carmelo Callus, 47, of Valletta, George Aquilina, 25, of Qormi, Simon Pisani, 22, of Msida, Simon Mifsud, 27, of Vittoriosa, Mario Hales, 40, of Mqabba, Angelo Sciberras, 51, of Żabbar, George Xuereb, 58, of Qormi, Paul Seguna, 37, of Żebbuġ, and Anthony Vassallo, 30, of Dingli.

On its 30th anniversary, Times of Malta revisited the tragedy in the first episode of Times Talk – the podcast.

Victims’ families returned to the spot where the tragedy happened in Dock 3 and recalled their feelings of that fateful day.

University rector Professor Alfred Vella and veteran journalist Chris Scicluna explained what they saw.

Both worked on the case in 1995 – Scicluna as the Times of Malta reporter and Vella as one of the court experts appointed to investigate the case and who witnessed the extent of the horrific tragedy just hours after it happened.

A massive funeral for all nine victims was held at Paola parish church a few days later. Photo: Courtesy of GWU and Union Print Library

‘I still wait for him to come home’

Rita Seguna lost her husband Paul that day. He survived the blast, and she was told he even spoke to first responders on the way to hospital but succumbed to his injuries shortly afterwards.

“I wish he survived, but he was so badly injured that it was perhaps for the better. God’s plans are a mystery,” she said.

“To this day, I still wait for him to come home.”

Sciberras and Seguna walked silently along Dock 3 last week, each holding a small bouquet they later laid at the site of their loved ones’ deaths.

A particularly eerie feeling settled over them during those few minutes when they noticed the Senglea bastion’s tower clock showed half past ten, the precise time of the explosion.

“I’m getting shivers,”  Sciberras said, looking at the towering clock.

The two women admit it had been a long time since they visited the dock – it is too tough for them.

Crowds pay their respects at the funeral held at Paola parish church. Photo: Courtesy of GWU and Union Print Library

The look on the women’s faces

Scicluna, now Times of Malta deputy online editor, who back then was working as a reporter for the newspaper, recalled going to the scene shortly after the explosion and trying to understand what had just happened.

“I will never forget the wives of the workers, panic-stricken outside the dockyard, desperately asking for any news about their husbands,” he said.

“I will never forget the anxiety on their faces.”

Vella, a chemistry professor, was called onto the ship as a court expert shortly after the explosion when the fire brigade was still battling the flames.

Investigators had to establish how many victims were on the ship and where they were located, while still unsure whether this was an accident or a terror attack.

Workers had been flung off the ship in the blast, and one particular image haunts Vella to this day.

“I saw a dead worker lying on the dock beneath the ship. To make matters worse, several metal rods had also fallen on him and a jet of water was gushing out from a broken fire line and was cascading on the man’s body,” he said.

Victims’ families during the funeral. Photo: Courtesy of GWU and Union Print Library

Investigations ensued

The event shocked the nation.

A national day of mourning was declared, and investigations into the cause of the blast were immediately opened.

The inquiry was completed a year later and found that the Um El Faroud, owned by General National Transport Company of Libya, had been carrying petroleum products for a number of years and was scheduled to have extensive pipework done in Malta.

Works were needed on the manifold and in the accommodation area. The cargo tanks needed blasting, as they had, over the years, absorbed a quantity of petroleum products, and when empty would naturally start to “gas off”.

The vessel had been inside Dock 3 for a few days, and the 16 crew members were all on board in the accommodation area of the ship when the explosion occurred.

The inquiry established that the explosion took place inside tank number three. One of the workers who died was cutting through a valve at the manifold by the extensive pipework located on the deck above the tank.

Sparks from the welding made their way into an open Butterworth hole (a manhole leading into the tank) igniting the flammable vapour in the tank that had not been gas freed before the start of the work. The explosion opened the ship like a can of sardines.

The inquiry found the drydocks’ management to be primarily responsible for the incident, identifying four dockyard workers as liable to face manslaughter charges.

The victims’ families eventually started civil action, demanding compensation.

They received it from the government, on behalf of the Malta Drydocks, during an out-of-court settlement.

But for Sciberras, Seguna and the relatives of those who perished, the pain remains raw even after three decades.

Following the inquiry, the structurally damaged Um El Faroud was deemed a total loss and the decision was made to scuttle the ship off the southern coast as an artificial reef and diving attraction.

Today, the wreck serves as a popular destination for divers, while a memorial plaque on the ship pays tribute to the nine workers who lost their lives.

Paola’s Christ the King Basilica, where the massive funeral was held for all victims 30 years ago, will be celebrating a mass for the repose of the souls of the victims Monday (today) at 6.30pm.

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