A man who died after suffering severe burns in a marina fire has been buried at sea in honour of his great love of the water.
The ceremony for Karl Pace took place on Saturday and was captured on camera by a photographer friend who wanted to focus on the “serenity and peace” of a funeral outside a cemetery.
Pace was sleeping on his boat at the Gozo marina in June when it caught fire, leaving him with burns across 60 per cent of his body. He was treated in intensive care but died last Tuesday.
Choppy seas did not deter at least 15 boats from accompanying the 34-year-old on his final journey to pay their last respects. Photographer Daryl Cauchi, who documented the ceremony, said it was “beautiful” in its own way, being “so close to nature”.
Family and friends of Karl Pace applaud as his coffin is lowered into the water. Scroll right to see more photos. Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
Photo: Daryl Cauchi
He said that as well as moments of deep grief, there was also clapping and the setting of the final salute was comforting.
“I understand he was not afraid of death and he had shown he was prepared for it,” Cauchi said about the mood he sensed out at sea.
In a moving tribute, penned on a ferry crossing to Gozo, his younger brother Chris said he had begun to fully understand why Karl had chosen the sea for his wellbeing.
Karl Pace (left) and brother Chris. Photo: Facebook“In my adolescence, I thought I had lost you to drugs. I gently drifted through life with no real direction for a few years, until you slowly got better, and your presence was back in my life… No set of rules in rehab could do the transformation for you. You found your own way out in the real world; you made your own rules; you were a new person."
He said his brother had found the courage to live life his way: in "tranquility, in peace, in nature".
He described how the 34-year-old had chosen to live every day as if it was his last. His distraught brother’s “biggest comfort is knowing that you lived more in the last years of your life than the majority really 'live' in 70 years."