The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean official flag will sail the seas around Malta, Sicily and North Africa on the occasion of the 36th Edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, starting Saturday 17 October 2015, from the Valletta Grand Harbour, in Malta. Over 100 participating yachts will sail a course leaving to port the Island of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria and Lampedusa Islands, through the South Comino Channel, keeping Malta to starboard, to the finish line in Marsamxett Harbour.
The PAM flag will be hoisted by the Italian yacht Shirlaf.
The flag was presented to skipper Giuseppe Puttini by PAM Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, in the presence of the crew, during a short ceremony on board the yacht, berthed at the Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC). “This is a special occasion where our thoughts go to the tragedies that this area of the Mediterranean has seen in the last years, where children, women and men lost their lives trying to cross towards the shores of Europe”, Amb. Piazzi said.
At the suggestion of PAM, and as agreed with Commodore Godwin Zammit of the RMYC, a minute of silence in memory of those migrants who lost their lives at sea, will also be held at the end of the race during the Prize Giving Ceremony on 24 October. On that occasion, crews and guests will also express their gratitude to the naval and merchant vessels which daily rescue hundreds of boat people abandoned in the high seas in the Mediterranean.
The Shirlaf crew was also hosted for a briefing at the Headquarters of PAM in St. Julians.