The *C23*, a 52-foot patrol boat operated by Malta's Security Service, was stationed off the coast of Gozo. Its mission that afternoon was administrative destruction. Authorities had confiscated 120 kilograms of illegal fireworks from a village feast. The standard disposal method was to take the contraband out to sea and sink it. The crew of seven—four soldiers and three policemen—loaded the fireworks onto the aft deck. At approximately 2:45 PM, as the boat was roughly a mile northwest of Comino island, the ordnance detonated.
The explosion was not a fire but a disintegration. Witnesses on Gozo described a sudden white flash and a pillar of smoke. The *C23* was blown into fragments. No distress call was made. Debris and human remains rained down over a wide area of the Mediterranean. Rescue vessels found only wreckage. All seven men were killed instantly. An official inquiry later concluded a stray spark, likely from the boat's engine or electrical system, ignited the volatile cargo.
The incident highlighted a bizarre cultural conflict in Malta. The manufacture and use of fireworks for religious festas is a deep-seated tradition. Regulations were often ignored, leading to a black market and frequent accidents in garages and factories. The state's attempt to enforce the law by using its own security forces to destroy the products ended in a state tragedy. It was a case of the enforcers being killed by the contraband.
The explosion led to a temporary ban on firework displays and stricter controls on manufacturing. It remains a grim footnote in Maltese history, a point where tradition, law enforcement, and explosive chemistry collided with fatal results. The men were not lost in combat or a storm, but in the routine and perilous task of cleaning up after a celebration.