The cousin of a man who was found dead in a field on Sunday hours after the police issued a public call for help has called for an overhaul of the way Malta responds to missing-person cases, particularly when vulnerable people are involved, .

Writing on Facebook following the death of Eusebio Abela, his cousin Ruben Abela described the experience his family had gone through as one he would not wish on anyone, but stressed that his comments were not intended as a report against anyone who may have failed in their duties.

Instead, he said he had chosen to write about the experience after allowing the initial emotion and anger to settle, with the aim of turning what happened to his family into a message for wider society.

Abela acknowledged that no writing or action would bring his cousin back, but said he would feel he had failed if the message remained something that only circulated in his mind and stayed within his family. If someone genuinely tried to make changes as a result, he said, Sebio's death would at least have served a purpose.

A key concern raised by Abela is that different types of missing-person cases should not be dealt with through the same procedures.

He argued that the disappearance of a vulnerable person cannot be treated in the same way as that of a teenager who has left home following an argument with their mother.

He said cases involving people who may have been involved in criminal activity also require a different approach, arguing that law enforcement authorities cannot always rely on the same protocols for every disappearance.

When a missing-person case involves someone vulnerable, Abela stressed that every second of immediate action is invaluable.

From his experience, he said he became aware of what he described as a significant lack of awareness among law enforcement authorities about what a vulnerable person may be going through, or could go through, at such a moment.

He also highlighted what he described as a lack of assistance for close family members during such traumatic circumstances.

While relatives are an important source of information to help the authorities obtain the details needed for a search, Abela said the collection of information should be carried out by people who are specifically trained to deal with such situations.

He also argued that medical professionals who had been treating the missing person in the days before their disappearance should be involved, as they may have information that could assist the search.

Close family members, he said, should also be offered psychological assistance to help them through the trauma, allowing them to provide the best possible information during the search.

Abela is calling for reports involving vulnerable missing people to be immediately referred to a specialised section rather than remaining at the police district where the report was initially made.

He said such a section should be made up of people who have received specific training in dealing with cases of this nature, similar to the specialised training received by members of the section dealing with suicides.

Search and rescue operations, he argued, should be placed immediately in the hands of law enforcement personnel who are trained and equipped to carry them out, from the moment a report is made.

Those personnel should then determine whether assistance from NGOs is required, he said.

Abela also called for the police to focus on rapidly collecting and analysing CCTV footage as reports about a missing person begin coming in.

Where the person's last known location is established, he said the police should collect as much CCTV footage from that area as possible and analyse it.

He pointed to the various search tools currently divided between different law enforcement bodies and NGOs, arguing that this makes full coordination between them essential.

He said law enforcement bodies should not work separately and that there should instead be complete coordination between them when responding to missing-person cases.

Abela stressed that his post was not intended simply as criticism of the authorities or anyone who may have been involved in his cousin's case.

He said he himself felt that he had fallen short and, when looking back, recognised that there were things he could have done better.

His appeal, he said, was aimed at those who hold political responsibility and could take action to improve the way vulnerable missing-person cases are handled.

He said he was ready to meet with those who could take action and provide further details about his experience, including information he did not feel was appropriate to share publicly.

Abela's proposals come from a deeply personal experience, but he stressed that any changes made now cannot bring Sebio back.

Instead, he is calling for lessons to be taken from what happened so that future cases involving vulnerable missing people can be handled more quickly, with better coordination, specialised training and greater support for their families.

For Abela, the aim is not to change what happened to his cousin, but to ensure that if another family finds itself in the same situation, the response is better prepared for those critical moments when every second counts.