The Armed Forces of Malta yesterday announced that it called off the search for Theo Bugeja, 11, who is presumed to have perished at sea following the vanishing of fishing vessel Simshar.

Brigadier Carmel Vassallo confirmed that the vessel, which was registered as Samsher, had sent its last signal via Vessel Monitoring System on Saturday 5 July when the vessel was still berthed in Marsaxlokk. The vessel left Marsaxlokk Bay at about 4am on Monday 7 July.

Its last known position came known on Thursday 10 July at 8.12pm when master Simon Bugeja’s family asked VMS service provider Datatrak to provide them with the vessel’s position, which was established at N35° 05’ E13°45’ after Datatrak pinged Simshar.

Brig. Vassallo said Sharin Bugeja, Simon Bugeja’s wife informed AFM that the vessel was overdue on Saturday 12 July at 19.20pm. AFM immediately started a communications search advising Malta Radio, Lampedusa Radio and Palermo Radio which relayed a message to vessels, asking whether they had sighted Simshar.

Furthermore, patrol boat P51 which had transferred irregular migrants at Lampedusa and an Islander aircraft which was on coastal patrol were asked to keep a sharp lookout for the vessel.

On Sunday 13 July, Rescue Coordination Centre Malta planned an initial air search in the area between Malta and Lampedusa based on information available at the time. Brig. Vassallo said the search began even though the Bugeja family said it would not start being concerned till the afternoon.

A second search was carried out in the afternoon using the last known VMS position as a reference point. The AMF commander admitted that the search was carried out for a fishing boat or a life raft. He said AFM was told that Simshar was only one year and a half old, equipped with the latest technology and a life raft.

On Monday 14 July a large-scale search was carried out involving an Italian Military Mission helicopter and US, Italian and Maltese aircraft.

A similar search was carried out on the following day, in which AFM met crew relatives to brief them on search operations as well as to solicit further information.

On Wednesday 16 July searches continued with an Italian Navy Altantique, AFM Islander and an Italian Military Mission helicopter and extended south into the Libyan Search and Rescue Area. AFM also met the two fisheries cooperatives in order to explain search operations undertaken as well as how the search area had been calculated.

During the meeting, the cooperatives suggested they lease a plane themselves, to which AFM disagreed due to air safety concerns.

On Thursday 17 July a search was carried out by the Italian helicopter. At 4.55pm fishing vessel Laura II reported sighting a corpse at 58 nautical miles WSW off Malta. The corpse was later identified as that of Noel ‘Murdoch’ Carabott, 31, after it was transported to Malta by patrol boat P51. Search efforts were concentrated in a smaller area closer to where the corpse was found.

On Friday 18 July, said Brig. Vassallo, a meeting was scheduled with the crew members’ family. However, Stephania Carabott, Mr Carabott’s wife informed AFM that the police had contacted her. Knowing that she would be asked to identify what was most probably her husband’s corpse, Brig. Vassallo advised her to go to the police. He later broke the news to the Bugeja family and a family friend.

At 4.40pm, said the commander, the helicopter located a second corpse which was later identified as Karmenu Bugeja, 61, known as It-Tabakku. He insisted that the helicopter, which was running out of fuel, sighted the body and signalled to vessel Madonna tal-Karmnu, incidentally belonging to Mr Bugeja’s brother Amante, where the body was.

At 7.55pm, AFM overheard vessel Grecale saying that it found Simon Bugeja alive at N35° 23 E13°17’, 4.1 nm away from his father’s body.

The Italian helicopter was dispatched on site and transported the fisherman to Mater Dei Hospital.

Further searches were based on Mr Bugeja’s testimony that his son Theo had been with him until that same morning while 21-year-old Somali Abdelrahman Abdala Gedi had died on Saturday 12 July.

His body was found on Saturday 19 July by fishing vessel Al Hader III. During the day, searches were conducted by AB212 helicopters, an Altantique and a Guardia di Finanza AB412.

Brig. Vassallo said AFM continued searching for the boy even though the possibility of finding him was remote given that his father had stated that Theo had died in his arms.

After continuing the search for another eight days, AFM called off the search. Brig. Vassallo said the search for the Simshar crew, lasting 15 days, was longer than average.

He said AFM will be meeting the fishing cooperatives and interested parties in order to learn from the experience and find out how could search operations have been more fruitful.

Asked why patrol boats were not involved in the initial search, Brig. Vassallo said there was more probability of finding the crew by air than by sea. This involved considerations such as the speed at which air craft and sea craft travel and what distances could be covered.

He recalled how in 2004 a kajjikk was found after being adrift for three weeks through air searches.

The commander stressed on the point that VMS was not a distress equipment, rather one of monitoring. He said the Fisheries Department was responsible for the monitoring of the system and AFM had only restricted access to it for fear that fishermen’s positions would be disclosed. It is a known well fact that the whereabouts of fishing grounds are jealously guarded secrets by fishermen.

He said the time had come for fishing vessels to be equipped with more modern safety equipment rather than the legal minimum requirements.

This newspaper learnt that Mr Carabott’s funeral will be taking place tomorrow at the Marsaxlokk parish church at 2.30pm.