Mother urges 14-year-old son to keep fighting after boat accident

Mother of 14-year-old boy urges him to "keep fighting" as he remains in critical condition after a boat struck a reef off Magħtab

9 November 2026, 9:48am
by Jade Bezzina

1 min read

Yanika Rizzo and her son Ben (Inset) who remains in critical condition (Photo: Yanika Rizzo/Facebook)

Yanika Rizzo, mother of 14-year-old Ben Rizzo, who remains in a critical condition following a boating accident off Magħtab in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq on Sunday evening, has appealed to her son to keep fighting.

“Fight Ben. Please keep fighting as I can’t do life without you. If you surrender there is no more reason for me to live. It’s you and your brother or nothing at all," she wrote in a message shared on social media.

“Don’t give up on me,” she continued.

The teenager was one of three people on board a boat that struck a reef off the Maltese coast on Sunday evening.

A 48-year-old man died in the incident, while Ben and a 44-year-old man were taken to Mater Dei Hospital in critical condition.

Police were alerted at around 7:15pm after flares were spotted coming from the boat. Civil Protection Department personnel and members of the Armed Forces of Malta were dispatched to the scene, as the three occupants were found unconscious and brought ashore before being taken to hospital.

Police investigations into the incident are ongoing.

Jade Bezzina is a part-time staff reporter with MaltaToday. She is a third-year student ...