Car plunges two storeys as driveway caves in

A young woman got the shock of her life when her home shook on Saturday night as the driveway collapsed and her car plummeted two storeys into an adjacent construction site.

Rachel Caruana, who lives with her family in St Elias Street, Fgura, had parked her Fiat Cinquecento (500) in the driveway just half an hour before it caved in at 7.30 p.m.

"At first I thought it was a tremor and I rushed out onto the balcony to see what happened. I had the fright of my life when I saw my car partially covered with rubble," she said.

Ritianne Spiteri, 13, was watching a DVD when she too heard a very loud noise and raced out of her house to see what had happened.

Neighbours, police officers and Ms Caruana's extended family and friends yesterday gathered on the spot to assess the extent of the damage.

The area has been cordoned off by the police and the Caruana family are unable to live in their house for fear the entire building might collapse.

They spent the first night with relatives and the contractor engaged in the adjacent construction works has now offered them the temporary choice of renting out a hotel room, which he will pay for, or an apartment in Fgura - they chose the latter.

The family has been living in the house for 12 years. Some time ago the bungalow next door was sold to make way for flats and garages.

For the past year they have lived with the daily noise of digging and Rita Caruana was forever scared her property would be damaged.

"I never had any problems with the workmen. For the past week I have been telling them to be careful. However, each time they would try to put my mind at rest and say they knew what they were doing," she said.

The collapsed driveway has exposed mounds of soil under her house.

Charles Mangion, the contractor working on the adjacent plot, stood behind the boundary wall, looking at the damage.

"We have been very careful to insert piles (steel columns) along their home to reinforce the structure and protect their building," he said.

Water could be heard seeping through the soil, which Mr Mangion felt weakened the foundations further.

"We had no idea there was so much soil - there are about three storeys of soil beneath the house. I'm obviously concerned. I have never seen anything like this," he added.

The Caruana family was upset that accidents continue to happen whenever excavations take place to tear down old houses to make way for more housing units.

"There are too many of these cases happening. In our case, we're lucky nobody got hurt, but there could have had been far worse consequences," Ms Caruana said.

They referred to the St Paul's Bay incident in 2004 when two women - Mary Zarb, a 60-year-old retired teacher, and Nadya Vavilova, her 24-year-old student - died after parts of the block of flats they were in collapsed after excavation works next door.

The family also recalled another incident, in 2000, when an elderly woman, Rita Vella, lost her life in similar circumstances when parts of her house in Cathedral Street, Sliema, collapsed.

More recently, in January, two families had to be evacuated from their homes in Xemxija when illegal excavations destabilised the area and a mudslide left the neighbouring house jutting out perilously in midair.

"There needs to be more care when excavation works are undertaken," Ms Caruana said.

Something was being done and a proposed Building Industry Consultative Council excavation policy framework should serve to reduce the number of incidents.

When contacted, Robert Musumeci, architect and BICC chairman, said a memo on this had been submitted to Cabinet in the past two weeks and it was being actively discussed.

The idea was to bind architects to carry out a method statement that includes: the work undertaken, the type of machinery used, and the state of adjacent buildings, among others.

The proposed method statement would then be deposited at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority allowing neighbours to view it before the excavation works begin.

"Today, the way things stand, neighbours have no access to a method statement. It's not even obligatory to have one and if you wish to take the case to court, the court has no technical details and information on which to base its decision," Mr Musumeci said.

"A method statement will serve to give a clearer direction to the contractor and peace of mind to neighbours, architects and insurance companies."