While we’re pretty sure you’ve heard (and probably visited) the picturesque Mgarr Ix-Xini bay in Gozo (the location used for filming Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s film ‘By the Sea’), we’ll bet that you’re likely less familiar with the valley leading up to it, known as Wied Hanzira. 

And even beyond that – what the valley itself houses – an old British coal-powered pumping station which was once used to extract ground water but was closed and abandoned in the 1960s.

Since then, the difficulty in access means that not much information is available about the state of it today, but now, locals Pierre Farrugia and Angelo Caruana have taken it upon themselves to explore and document the late 1880 coal-powered water pumping station that used to supply fresh water all over Gozo.

Their focus will be mostly on the underground sections, mainly owing to the fact that no images or video of it are currently available! ;

Sharing details of their mission, Pierre says that this adventure “started months ago when I went to explore this area, and in the middle of it there was this intriguing 23m deep shaft, of which at its bottom, opened in other rooms.”

Upon researching the area, he came across a detailed document by Mario Pace and an article which was featured on the Times of Malta, with information about the Mgarr ix-Xini pumping station.

“From there we started training,” he reveals, adding that “going down was not a problem but going up this 23-metre sheet flat wall was very challenging.” Until finally, last week, the pair ventured to Gozo to begin their exploration, facing the three big challenges: “the heat, the thorns found in this valley, and going up this wall.”

Their journey started by exploring the upper part of the pumping station, the coal room and boiler rooms, before abseiling down the shaft to explore its underground.

Once they had made it down the 23-metre drop, Pierre says that they explored the station’s electric pump room and diesel engine rooms. “From there we found a tunnel which took us to a 10-metre horizontal tunnel, which lead to a five-metre vertical shaft, which proved to be flooded with water,” he reveals.

That’s quite the adventure! Would you attempt it?