Thursday, March 29, 2018, 11:04 by Vanessa Macdonald

Gozo Channel ferry ramp falls into water after hydraulic failure

Hundreds stranded on ferry on busy weekend

Updated at 11.15am

The ramp of a Gozo Channel ferry fell into the water at Mġarr on Thursday morning, briefly stranding hundreds of people on board.

Gozo Channel chairman Joe Cordina told Times of Malta that the issue was a hydraulic failure, which would take some five hours to repair.

However, the captain took immediate action to reverse the ship from the quay and to rotate it, so that cars and passengers could disembark from the ramp at the other end of the vessel.

The incident occurred on one of the busiest weekends of the year but Mr Cordina said that the other two vessels were working a shuttle service and that the damaged ferry would not block any of the quays, allowing the other two to work.

Watch the Mġarr terminal live here  

Watch the Cirkewwa terminal live here