Two young men who were just trying to enjoy a fishing trip ended up losing all their belongings after a trawling boat owned by Azzopardi Fisheries allegedly charged towards them and capsized their boat.
“The trawler headed straight onto us, colliding with us and causing the boat to capsize and all of our belongings (phones, wallets, keys, camera etc.) to drown” wrote Aleandro Spiteri Monsigneur on Facebook, explaining how the trawler came towards them because they were fishing within a certain radius of the farms which is prohibited.
After the collision, the captain, a certain Jordan Cutajar, allegedly offered no apologies: “Tort tagħkom … terġgħux tiġu hawn!”(Your fault, don’t come back here)
However, the accused, Azzopardi fisheries, have given a contrasting version of events to what has been alleged.
Owner of Azzopardi Fisheries, Charles Azzopardi, told MaltaToday that the boat was not rammed into and insisted it capsized because it was caught in the wake of the fishing trawler.
“We helped them and sent divers to recover their wallets and other items. We have it all on video,” Azzopardi said, adding that the small vessel was tied to his company’s fish cages, which is a restricted area by Transport Malta regulations.
The businessman explained that the company had a problem with theft of fish from their cages, which were a restricted area under Transport Malta regulations.
What do you make of this?