Out of a total of 416 people who have been reported missing this year, six have still not been found, the police have informed this newspaper.

A police spokesperson has confirmed with The Malta Independent that as of 24 July of this year, the police had received a total of 416 reports of missing persons. 405 of them were eventually found, and five missing persons were found deceased.

Out of the six persons who are still being reported as missing, only one is Maltese. The nationality of the other missing persons was not divulged. 

This newsroom has been following the story of one particular missing person, Thomas Stewart, a man who went missing in Malta almost 10 weeks ago. The troubling part is that in an exclusive interview with this newspaper, the missing man’s wife, Phyllis Stewart, expressed her concern over the lack of effort by the local police force. She lashed out at the lack of proper communication between her and the police and at how she was not approached and properly interviewed to discuss her husband’s possible whereabouts. Some weeks ago, the police reissued an appeal for information from the public in an attempt to find Mr Stewart.

Mrs Stewart’s anger at the police and the authorities eventually to a judicial protest being filed against the Police Commissioner, the Minister for Health and the CEO of Mount Carmel, the facility from which Mr Stewart had escaped.

In the interview, Mrs Stewart had complained about how her husband had been taken to Mount Carmel without having been properly informed about his diagnosis. She also insisted that her husband was in a good state of mental health and that he only suffers from diabetes.

According to Mrs Stewart, her husband was spotted several times, including in Lija, Mosta and Saint Paul’s Bay. These appearances have kept Mrs Stewart hoping that someday soon her husband will return to their apartment in Balzan.