A 14-year old student from Zurrieq, Adrian Borg, died yesterday in a tragic accident during his PE lesson at school.

The boy was with his fellow fourth form classmates in the school grounds of St Francis of Assisi School (formerly Umberto Calosso) in Hamrun.

According to the police the boy was playing football when "for some reason" one of the goalposts toppled over onto him.

The teenager suffered severe head and facial injuries in the accident.

The last rites were administered by the school's spiritual director even as the ambulance was on its way.

The teenager was rushed to hospital, but he was dead on arrival.

The goal posts are made of thick metal pipes and although they are not shifted around, they are not fixed to the ground.

The Minister of Education, Louis Galea, and education department officials went to the school, as did other distraught parents who went to ensure the safety of their children. Dr Galea also called on the boy's parents.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman went on site to conduct an inquiry and appointed court expert Yana Micallef Stafrace and architect Valerio Schembri to assist in the inquiry.

Superintendent Paul Debattista and Inspector Mario Bonello from the Hamrun district are investigating.

The Education Ministry said in a statement that a board of inquiry has been set up. The board is independent of the magisterial inquiry and is composed of the former permanent secretary of the ministry, Paul Attard, lawyer Stephen Zammit and Mark Gauci, a medical doctor.

The board has to report on how the accident happened and establish all the facts related to the accident. The board is also to see whether the necessary precautions that ensure health and safety were in place and should give its opinion about who should shoulder responsibility. The board should also make recommendations.

The school will remain closed today as a sign of mourning.

The Malta Union of Teachers issued a statement to express solidarity with the boy's parents and family as well as the students, school administration and teachers as well as the ministry and education division.

Dr Galea and opposition education spokesman Carmelo Abela expressed their sorrow over the accident when the House of Representatives met yesterday evening.

In a statement to the House, Dr Galea explained that while the class was playing football, Adrian Borg grabbed hold of the horizontal bar and it somehow fell on him, killing him almost instantly.

Dr Galea said he knew Adrian Borg's parents, and the boy himself, and had called at their house after visiting the school. One understood the major shock the family had suffered as it was difficult to understand how a boy left for school in the morning and did not return.

Replying to questions by Mr Abela and Opposition leader Alfred Sant on the structure to ensure there was safety in schools, Dr Galea said the structure started being built in 1999 when a director was appointed within the Education Division with duties which included the building of a capacity within all secondary and primary schools to handle health and safety issues.

An assistant director with specific duties on health and safety was appointed last year and an education officer also worked in this area.

The Education Division had also fully implemented an agreement with the MUT through which health and safety officials were appointed in all schools, including this school, where there were two such officers.

All these officers were given in-service training and worked on the inspection of equipment used in laboratories, gyms and sports grounds as well as electrical appliances, among other duties. They submitted reports whenever shortcomings were noticed. Such reports were given absolute priority by the Education Division.

Dr Galea said the school where the accident took place yesterday was only opened three years ago, but the goal posts involved had been in use for some 30 years, having previously been used by students of Umberto Calosso school.

These were goalposts which were not fixed to the ground and which could be moved according to needs. A large number of such goal posts could be found in many schools, sports clubs and gyms where grounds were used for different sports. It never occurred to anybody that an accident such as this could ever occur, but measures would now be taken to avoid a repetition.

A deeper analysis would now be made of safety measures, a process which could include heads of school, teachers, parents, pupils and education division officials.

In a statement last night, Mr Abela raised a number of questions on safety in schools. He asked what role the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools had and how often safety inspections were held.

He recalled that an air purifying system installed by the foundation at FX Attard School in Marsa recently fell to the ground, but fortunately no one was around when it did.

Mr Abela also asked about school transport and called for proper monitoring of vehicles and outside schools, citing an Education Division directive that permits only one teacher to supervise children.