Efforts continuing to recover dead tourist trapped underwater after rockfall

Last updated Sunday 8.30am.

Efforts are set to continue on Sunday morning to recover the body of a tourist killed when rocks crashed onto a jetski off Comino.

The tragedy unfolded on Saturday evening when a natural rock arch collapsed as a jetski was passing underneath.

An eyewitness told Times of Malta the accident happened beneath Santa Marija Battery at around 7pm.

The eyewitness described seeing people standing on top of the archway, which is situated close to the former pig farm, "just 10 minutes before the incident". 

An eyewitness took this photograph "10 minutes before the rock collapsed".

Sources told Times of Malta the arch collapsed just after a man dived off it into the sea below. He managed to come out of the water but is believed to have suffered "slight injuries". He was taken to Mgarr Harbour by a private boat for treatment.

A jet ski with two people on it was struck by the falling rocks and destroyed, with debris seen floating in the water. A man was killed and a woman was grievously injured and taken to Gozo General Hospital for treatment. Her injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.

All three are understood to be tourists, the sources said.

Divers from Armed Forces of Malta Gozo Command and the 3rd Regiment together with the Civil Protection Department were deployed on site.

The AFM said the body of a man was found "trapped underwater and showing no signs of life". 

The natural arch which collapsed on Saturday, killing a tourist. Shutterstock photo.

A spokesperson for the Civil Protection Department said the victim appeared to be trapped under big boulders and heavy machinery will need to be taken to the site to enable the recovery. 

A magisterial inquiry is underway.

Reminder of Marsascala tragedy and other rockfalls

Saturday's tragedy came almost two years after a similar accident in Marsascala. 

22-year-old Mirabelle Falzon was killed on July 19, 2024, while swimming at a popular spot in an area known as Munxar, in the limits of St Thomas Bay, in Marsascala. The area was later fenced off. 

Unstable rocks all around Malta's coast have been an increasing source of concern, with several spots fenced off in recent years. A site at St Peter's Pool near Delimara was closed off last month after alarm was raised in social media posts.

Parts off Għar Lapsi were closed off after Storm Harry earlier this year, and a fence was erected at Fomm ir-Riħ because of rock collapses. In March, Transport Malta warned kayakers and small boat users to keep a safe distance from the Valletta Quarry Wharf area because of a continued risk of falling rocks.

Parts of Mġiebaħ Bay, Selmun were closed off last year.

In July 2023 people on a boat reported a lucky escape when rocks fell into the sea at the area known as Tlett Ħofriet, Delimara.

The best-known recent rockfall occurred on March 8, 2017, when the much photographed Azure window in Gozo collapsed at night during a storm. No one was hurt.  

Going further back in time, three tourists were lucky not to have been killed when part of the cliff face at Golden Bay suddenly collapsed on September 5, 1980, showering their paddle boat with boulders.