At 10pm Gozo Channel announced:

Gozo Channel would like to inform its esteemed clientele that following the necessary verifications, it has now resumed normal operations.

Earlier, passengers on board two Gozo Channel ships at Cirkewwa waiting to  cross over to Gozo were ordered to disembark, amid heavy police security.

The police later confirmed there was a bomb threat and said more information would be given later on.

All passengers had to waitl outside for developments.

The passengers who had a car were ordered to leave it in the ship's garage and make their way out of the ship.

A first statement by Gozo Channel said:

Gozo Channel regrets to inform its esteemed clientele that due to a bomb threat it has been forced to suspend all its services.  Due to the fact that the bomb threat did not specify on which of the vessels the bomb was allegedly placed, verifications has to be undertaken on all the three vessels.

Whilst apologising itself for any inconvenience caused, Gozo Channel would like to inform that the service will resume as soon all the necessary verifications are completed.

One of the two ferry boats is the MV Ta'Pinu.

A police bomb squad arrived at Cirkewwa at 7.25pm and inspected the ship. The unit included some divers.

Meanwhile unconfirmed reports on MaltaRightNow said the bomb threat was made from a public phone box in San Gwann and the police were examining sacurity cameras around it in a bid to identify the perpetrator/s.

A statement by the Ministry for Gozo condemned the bomb threat and said similar actions jeopardise business in Gozo.