Hi Guys,
Does anyone know this guy?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090112/local/maltese-diver-missing-off-ghajn-tuffieha (http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090112/local/maltese-diver-missing-off-ghajn-tuffieha)
we pray and pray maybe.............
:( xi dwejjaq
My Prayers goes to him and all his family
thats very bad news, lets pray for him!
Bad news! Let's hope for the best...
It is sad to hear these news. What we can do is pray for him and his family.
Herbert Mercieca 34 from rabat
some of us knew him as he was a member of the malta skin diving club.
lets keep him in our prayers
What a horrible think to hear. Again hope for the best. Prayers from here too.
Weather isn't helping a lot with the search >:(
I don't think it was a good idea going diving without a buddy, especially in this weather. Let's hope for the best.
pls don t continue saying regards diving alone. Every one knows his needs and risks and if Im a relative I don t like reading these things.
Hope they find this our friend
I agree with Emic, diving alone is more often a reality in spearfishing. There is much to discuss about it, but not in this thread...all we can do is pray for the guy and his family.
Emic do you have any info about the whereabouts of where they found the buoy and harpoon? From the Times video it looked like where we were diving last Summer You, me and Kenneth
The place looks like Id-Delli ..... that was my impression
i think that place is going out from ghajntuffieha keeping on your right a bit further out from the boathouses that are under the hotel. there are those 2 big rocks
Just heard the news, they stated it was between ghajn tuffieha and Anchor bay (Ras Il-Wahx).
Im very heart broken about this news, seein as he was a very good friend of my mother's and he also used to get us some octopus on occasion, he was a very good boy.
This is very very sad news guys =[...Let us all pray form him. :(
yes Patrick, it s at Delli limits of Golden sands. Last time I meet him was begining of december and he was heading-in in just 4-5mtr for some octopus. Infact some guys that where with us went to talk with him. I just saw his float but the others had talked with him and think even Markcam that day.
A stupid thing was that this sunday, Mario and I where diving at Paridise bay and I lost a float and when Giovanni called me this early morning and told me that they found his float, I re checked to be sure that it wasn t mine, so that they will be searching in the right area. But mine was without a weight so there we concluded that it was Herbert s one.
Cannot say anymore information cos I just picked up some from some diveres where we all offered our help where possible
I can't imagine him looking for great depths at this time of the year Edward, especially if he's an expericenced spearo. Well I guess rescue teams know what they're doing. right now all we can do is pray the almighty god he's found safe and sound.
jaqaw da wiehed xaghru qargha??
bad news, very bad. safety is never enough guys and no fish is worth your life
:'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Pitty, That's a very bad news that I faced early this mornig when emic sent me an sms. Since I am from dingli, i had to know this guy for sure, but I had no name so I was going to phone someone, but what if it was him???? so I sent an sms and this person replied to me, so I said to myself thank you god, until he replied to me that the missing person was Herbert. :'(
He told me that he used to be his buddy,and is a good family friend and therefore he went on the spot, that is exactly where you mentioned. They found his float anchored at 15metres, his car, and his speargun shot with a grouper in the spear.
This morning the search continued, and this person (a good friend of mine whom I am not telling the name for privacy) went with the rescue team on the dinghi. The operation had to stop due to bad weather, and this person sadly phoned me and gave me the bad result, and It will be much more difficult, the possibility to find him now that the weather is so bad.
Herbert was a good friend, and so quiet, .....This was a tragic end
Lets all pray for him.... and as emic said forget solo diving for the moment, we will open a thread in the future and together discuss safety.
Very sad news... Lets pray for him and his family. :(
Today i heard the news and still no sign of him. They found his harpoon and his car parked. i feel very sry 4 him and his family. Dont know why he went snorkling in that weather,
King on that side of malta with Eastern winds its nearly always calm and in the morning it was not windy
Quote from: King on January 13, 2009, 15:54:41 CET
Today i heard the news and still no sign of him. They found his harpoon and his car parked. i feel very sry 4 him and his family. Dont know why he went snorkling in that weather,
I was swimming on that side 3-4km from him and the sea was really calm
Ic, i thought it was rough. :'(
Ghadom ma sabuhx?
Ifimni sa dalghodu kienu ghadom ma sabuhx. Issa jajdu fuq l ahbarijiet dalwaqt
:'(
nhoss li kif inhu il bahar vera mhux ser jajn fi tficcija pero jekk il kurrent jkun il gewwa huwa ahjar.
On thursday a group of us are going to help look for herman if anyone is intersted in joining send me a personal message and i will forward the information
thank you for your help
we are meeting at 8.30 am at the kiosk in xemxija the search will be conducted from land
That's a very good initiative and show of solidarity - prosit Simon
Too late for me. I have appointments for tomorrow and therefore I cannot join in I am really sorry. I was told by emic that something was going to be held on saturday?? What about?
till 2day they didnt found him! hope they will
I'll be joining the search team on Saturday from land. I encouarge anyone who might be not busy to help Hermans family in the search for their son. I know some speroes will be doing the search at sea too. Like that we'll be covering a lot of area. If anyone would be joining up tomorrow kindly let SimonG know by PMing him. If anyone would be searching from land a good pair of shoes and binoculars are needed.
I will be joining from the sea.
Quote from: baghira on January 16, 2009, 14:11:42 CET
I will be joining from the sea.
Silv, will you be doing Scuba ?
Nope that did not ask me, I will be freediving.
If there is the need I can scuba, I am a quilified rescue diver. But I would need a buddy.
I will just pop by on the spot right now to see the weather.
Hi guys I'm Eman (ggant)it's my first post on this forum for tommorrow I'm in if I can team up with some body using a boat or dinghy it's better so i can freedive but if I cant find nobody I will do my best to help from land
Quote from: baghira on January 16, 2009, 14:27:12 CET
Nope that did not ask me, I will be freediving.
If there is the need I can scuba, I am a quilified rescue diver. But I would need a buddy.
It would be great if somebody can join you for scuba. It would be more effective i guess
Quote from: ggantno1 on January 16, 2009, 14:29:11 CET
Hi guys I'm Eman (ggant)it's my first post on this forum for tommorrow I'm in if I can team up with some body using a boat or dinghy it's better so i can freedive but if I cant find nobody I will do my best to help from land
Hi Eman. First of all welcome to MFF, Simon told me about you yesterday that you'll be joining 2 morow. At the moment I can't freedive so i'll be doing it from land. I hope I'll be able to team up with more people. Kindly inform me regarding any updates for 2 morow regarding time, meeting place etc etc
sorry guys me and Ramio have a boat to put on the hard. Thats a full days work, retrieving, power washing and driving from B'Bugia to Attard, then moving about 3 boats out and into the garage.
Our prayers will be with you all. And be careful all those searching from land and sea.
Hi guys.
Few time ago, I came back from the site. There was nobody present on land and at sea. Emic has just left from the sea. The sea was a bit rough and I was told that the visibility was also poor. Because of this they postponed the operation for sunday. Emic is supposed to be bringing tanks for scuba, and there will be some guys for diving,. i will of course join in. I will try to update myself late tomorrow.
Nice to meet you Eman 'ggant.'
to morrow weather is supposed to be better than sunday. sunday is going to be southerly going to southwest west which will not be that calm.
hi guys,
today me, markcam and giovanni went for a dive, where we was freediving in the area. Had 2 pints where to go from Simon AGius. It was very difficult, 1st was full of jellyfish, 2nd a bit rough and 3rd visibility was nt on our side.
The area is quite big and its really hard to be in small group to find something. We covered the shellow area from 0-15mtr and all the rocks in touch with the sea.
Hard to say where to try.
Tommorrow there will be Giovanni, Leli, Toni is salvagg and anotehr guy Leli who are going to do some scuba in the area.
As for sunday, the Malta Skin Diving club is going to meet at Mriehel Bypass at 7.30am. There we go to the nearest slip to forward to Golden sands and do searches from there.
Aslo we arranged with Dive Systems to rent the cylinders from them and arranged to get them for half price and even some more divers. WIll have extra tanks nearby so we can arrange for more then 1 dive.
That guys who do not practice scuba like me will be helping by freediving.
Our phones are 79317244, 99593775, 79001831
Guys we know that this is a very hard job, but pls lets help each other. This situation could had been for one of us. I don t know Herbert or his family but if it was me I would like that others do this for my family.
Today, they where diving Giovanni, Leli (tal hrapen), Toni (is salvagg) and Leli went and covered a big area. They done a lot of freediving and even 3 cylinders each and went till 42mtr +, but no sign.
Hope tommorrow we get some results
Today we took another chance to find Herbert.
There were about 30 divers from Calypso divers who volunteered in the search. They came with the luzzu. Then there were 3 divers from rabat (who work at tuna pens dario, kwakka, karfusu) on a rib, there was me and simon (tal-beauchat), and my friend drinu on another rib, this as regards divers, then there were a lot of dinghi's from malta skindiving club, I could recognise, emic, markam, simon, dunstan and his buddy, ian (tal-elios), and many others, who were covering a large area shore freediving, from gnejna to qammieh.
I was diving with adrian in an area I knew was full of crevices, down at 30 metres. The sea was freezing cold, and the visibility was not that good, but I went into all the caves and cracks I could find to no avail. Pitty.
I knew both him and also his family, who were onto different ribs, and you could see the sadness in their faces, and i tried to do my best to at least put their heart at rest. I can still see the face of his brother jesmond thanking us for the help.
May poor herbert rest in peace, wherever he lies.
As baghira said, yes there was a very good response. We where really a good number of diverers from both sides, apnea and scuba. Wish to thank for the guys who where present and also who those who tried to help as they can.
This had showed up that out in the water we know on who are the real friends. Everyone was giving his best.
thanks to all
Hello Guys,
A very shocking day was Sunday 11th for my self and for Herbert family.
We did not lost only a diver or a friend but a very professional person with a great respect for the sea. After all human possibilities we nearly gave up to find his body. Around 90 divers, patrol boats, rescue teams and army team, a helicopter and three times with an airplane we cannot do more than what we did. Bad weather and very strong winds made it a nightmare for all of us to search for him. He was a very good spear fisher and he loved the sea . We have to be more careful while spearfishing as no fish is worth our life but in my opinion we should honor him with our sports and keep on going. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of his family we would like to thank everyone who was involved in the searches.
Regards
Dunstan
A very nice photo from the first days with me as a buddy and as a friend
(http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/512_19_01_09_5_16_05.jpeg)
Whilst it's no consolation to Herbert's family nor his friends, he left this world doing something that he loved and gained immense enjoyment from, and as Dunstan's words have highlighted his legacy will be remembered by all those who knew him, may he rest in peace.
i met herbert for the first this summer at his brothers shop. his brother intruduced him to me and told him that i like fishing and from that day everytime i met him there we spent some time talking about fish. i saw you guys who were diving on sunday everyone working together to find him. he deserved all your help because although i met him only a few times it was like knowing him for a long time. when he talked about diving and fish you could see the passion for the sea in his eyes. rest in peace herbert.
Rest in peace
shall he rest in peace. not of comfort at all but he died doing what he loves doing, spear-fishing
careful guys when spear-fishing it doesn't seem a very good year for us, spearfisherman
may he rest in peace.
May he rest in peace and I hope that you all spearos will remember in such accidents when you go to your limits in waiting for a fish, keep in mind that no fish is worth more than your life and all the problems and worries you leave behind to your family and friends.
I know that fishing is getting much more scarce in Malta and when we see a fish we lose our control cause it's often a one off but guys lets learn from mistakes and safety first.
This is dedicated to all those who knew him family and friends what moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness, a longing for one more day, one more word, one more touch, we may not understand why you left this earth so soon, or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.
and please lets not be judgmental this is neither the place nor the time. We can discuss safety in general on another separate thread.
may he rest in peace
may he rest in peace.
may he rest in peace
may he rest in peace
May He Rest In Peace
May you rest in peace, Herbert. And may the almighty God confort and keep his protecting hands on all your family in this tragic moment. They are all in our prayers right now.
Rest In Peace.
Keep calling his name
Keep calling perhaps he'll hear you
Keep calling his name
Maybe now he's not the one
The one who's exiled form the world of you and me
The one who can't be reached the one who's lost at sea
The one whose social skills have gone to atrophy
The one who drifts apart the one who's lost at sea
The one who's lost at sea.
May God give you rest Herbert.
May he rest in peace
May He Rest In Peace.