The two couples who died when their car plunged into the sea while they were on holiday in Croatia have been named.
Jeremy Gambin, 68, and his wife Lorraine, 67, who lived in Swieqi, died alongside Kevin Bonnici, 67, and his wife Alexandra, 66.
They were travelling together on the scenic Adriatic Coast when the car they were in veered off the road and into the sea on Thursday afternoon.
Reports from Croatia suggest the driver may have become ill while driving on the coastal D8 state road.
Jeremy Gambin was a well-known basketball coach at Luxol and former player who represented Malta at the 1987 Games of Small States of Europe in Monaco. He was also a PE Teacher at St Michael’s Foundation.
He and his wife Lorraine, whose official name is Cynthia, had three children and several grandchildren.
Kevin Bonnici worked in the cab business and served as a company director of two separate Y-Plate fleet firms. He previously worked for Air Malta in the airline’s finance, flight ops and engineering departments. He and his wife Alexandra had two children and various grandchildren.
Desperate rescue attempt
Police said the vehicle, travelling from Rijeka towards Senj, is believed to have lost control on a left-hand bend, veered right, struck two stone barriers and fell around 70 metres down a ravine before ending up in the water.
Police officer Jasmin Mujaković, among the first at the scene, removed his uniform and dived to a depth of 16 metres in repeated attempts to open the badly damaged vehicle, but was forced back by water pressure.
One woman’s body surfaced hundreds of metres from the car, while the other three victims were retrieved from inside the vehicle.
The car was recovered on Friday. It had to be towed to a nearby town to be lifted to shore and a diver involved in the recovery operation described it as one of the most difficult of his career.
The foreign ministry expressed condolences and said it is liaising with Croatian authorities.
Tribute
In a heartfelt Facebook post, Swieqi deputy mayor Jordan Galea Pace said that on Friday evening a minute of silence was observed during Ġieħ is-Swieqi ceremony for the loss of two of the town’s residents.
“Lorraine was a loved and active member of our community who regularly attended our activities while Mr Gambin, my former coach at St Michael’s Foundation, was always a respected man,” Galea Pace said.
The Malta Basketball Association expressed its condolences “to the families and friends” of Jeremy Gambin and Kevin Bonnici who were both former basketball players.