MT Hephaestus

MT or MV[a] Hephaestus was a bunkering oil tanker that ran aground off Qawra, Malta on 10 February 2018 and was subsequently scuttled as a dive site off Xatt l-Aħmar, Gozo on 29 August 2022.

[1] The vessel had been at sea for about four months, and from January 2018 it had been anchored at Is-Sikka l-Bajda off Qawra, Malta while there was a dispute relating to payment of crew's wages.

After informing authorities of the accident, all seven crew members disembarked the vessel using a rope ladder, and Abedin was treated for a minor[1] shoulder injury at Mater Dei Hospital.

[8] In the months after the grounding, the Hephaestus shipwreck became a popular photo backdrop for Maltese and foreign social media users.

It was successfully towed to Cassar's facility in Marsa,[10] but the vessel's owners deemed that repairing the damage would be too costly.

Qawra Point, near which the vessel was grounded in February 2018
Scuttling.
Xatt l-Aħmar