Services provided by Gozo Channel resumed late Friday after a bomb hoax halted the operations for a few hours until all ships were searched.

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri announced on Facebook that searches had been carried out to ensure that the ships were all safe.

Earlier, he had said that the services had been halted until the necessary checks were carried out.

As expected, this led to queues of cars and passengers piling up at Cirkewwa and Mgarr.

Friday evening is usually a busy time for the company as many people would be crossing over to the sister island for the weekend.

In a statement on Saturday, the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) said that on Friday they received an urgent call via the emergency line 112 reporting a suspected bomb threat on Gozo Channel ferries. In response, AFM's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams were immediately deployed to Ċirkewwa and Mġarr, Gozo.

EOD teams conducted thorough searches both underwater and, on all vessels, to ensure the safety of passengers and crew. "The search operations were completed successfully and resulted negative," the statement said.