Man finds 16-year-old message in a bottle during Storm Harry clean-up

Updated 4.32pm

While helping to clean up his locality after Storm Harry, one man stumbled upon a message in a bottle dating back 16 years. Inside was a note about everlasting friendship.

Victor Fenech, 60, from Marsaxlokk, is a gardener and president of the Marsaxlokk Waterpolo Club. He also frequently takes part in clean-ups, either on his own or in collaboration with the Coast is Clear Foundation.

Following the havoc caused by Storm Harry, Fenech decided to spend a few hours on Wednesday afternoon cleaning Għar Aħmar Bay in Marsaxlokk, where he found the bottle.

“The bay was full of plastic, so I thought I would go help clean it up a bit, and when I saw that bottle, I was too curious not to try open it,” said Fenech.

Victor Fenech

Inside the old Pepsi bottle was a slightly faded note dated January 2010. Although not all of it is legible, the message can just about be made out.

It reads: “It was January 2010 when Nicola, Elly Cassar and Jeanette Bezzina were studying… decided to empty a bottle of coke to make their friendship last forever! We R in ❤️BFFF” – followed by several hearts and smiley faces typical of notes teenage girls send to one another.

The day after finding the bottle, Fenech decided to post about it online, in the hopes of identifying Nicola, Elly or Jeanette.

“I hope that we find out who they are, who knows, maybe they are still friends,” he said.

He shared a photo of the bottle and the note on the popular Facebook page Are You Being Served? The post has already attracted a number of reactions, with several users tagging people named Elly, Nicola and Jeanette in hopes of confirming the girls’ identities.

Fenech said this is not the first message in a bottle he has come across.

“A while ago, I found another message in a bottle - this bottle was glass, and the message inside had all but faded. It was clearly much older than this one.”

Fenech himself has never actually sent a message in a bottle.

Speaking about the impact of the storm on his locality, he said: “The storm caused a lot of damage in Marsaxlokk and Marsascala, among others. And while we felt a lot of concern for the restaurant owners, the fishermen and even for our water polo club, I am just very relieved to see no one was hurt.”

One of the authors of the notes, Jeanette Schembri Bezzina was amused to see that the bottle had come back to shore after so many years.

“I can still remember that day with my school friends like it was yesterday … how time flies! Our intention wasn’t to litter at all, we were just curious to see if it might be found years later, like in the movies and it actually happened!”