Five hundred people today took part in a mass evacuation exercise, the first of its kind, that was carried out in Grand Harbour.

The aim of the exercise was to gauge the security measures in place should an accident involving many people take place.

The exercise was carried out on the Costa Crociere cruise liner Costa neoRiviera. 200 of the participants were crew members with the rest of the participants coming from the police, armed forces, Civil Protection Department, the Red Cross Society and health workers.

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said that during its EU presidency Malta put safety at sea as one of its priorities.