Floriana accident: Rescuer complains about inaction by onlookers

A Yorkshire fireman who possibly saved the life of two people following a car crash in Blata l-Bajda late last month has expressed his regret that onlookers did not do more to help.

Five young people were in a Seat Ibiza which crashed into a tree at about 1.15 a.m. on April 26 and two were critically injured.

Chris Atkinson had been in Malta to watch his son participate in an athletics event and rushed to help when he saw the car crash as he drove by.

He recently submitted a comment to timesofmalta.com to ask about the condition of the casualties.

"I stopped my car in front of the incident and upon approach I noticed there were five casualties in the vehicle, with people standing around doing nothing," he said.

" The two casualties in the front of the vehicle were unconscious and unresponsive, whereas the three in the back were fully converse, one was screaming out in pain as she had her leg trapped, so I asked her to calm down whilst I tended to the seriously injured people.

"I approached a male passenger first, he was not breathing, I opened his airway, whereupon he immediately started to breathe. I called out for assistance but no-one was willing to help. Again I called for help, because even though the male casualty was now breathing he was unable to keep his airway open for himself.

"I asked if anyone had any first-aid experience, this time a man stepped forward, I asked him to take the "C"-spine control and keep his air-way open, which he did for a short time. I then went to the driver, a young lady, she again was totally unresponsive. I opened her airway and again she started to breathe.

"By this time some men in army uniform had arrived, yet they were unwilling to get involved. The young man who had stepped forward to help with the passenger had now let go of the airway, so again the passenger had difficulties to breathe.

"I removed the male from the front seat, laid him on the pavement in a recovery position, got two uninjured rear seat passengers out of the car, then went back to the driver.

"Again, I opened her airway to allow her to breathe, I asked the female screaming passenger, who had her leg trapped for some quiet so I could ascertain whether the driver was conscious.

"Finally the Fire-Service / Civil-protection arrived with just two personnel. After a few more minutes of help to the young lady driver, I left the scene to allow the rescuers to extricate the remainder of the casualties."

Mr Atkinson said he had been a fire-fighter for over 20 years and was a specialist road traffic accident instructor for the past five years and would be ready to help the Maltese authorities.