The Armed Forces of Malta’s (AFM) are searching for a Maltese fishing trawler, the Lorenzo Madre, that has been missing for over 12 hours.

The vessel, owned by Fish-to-Fish Ltd, was due back in port on Sunday at around 7.30pm.

According to sources, the men on board are of Tunisian nationality and married to Maltese women. In fact, the AFM Operations Centre was informed by their wives that the fishing vessel had not returned.

The trawler’s last known position was around 10 nautical miles south of Malta. With no established radio contact, it is suspected that a power failure on board may have rendered the vessel’s radios useless.

Yesterday morning at around 11am the Italian Military Mission’s AB212 search-and-rescue (SAR) AB 212 Air Force helicopter conducted a search pattern in the estimated area of drift.

A general notice to all vessels in the area has been issued on all VHF-marine and NAVTEX services. The search is expected to resume this morning.