Syringes in sandcastles

British tourist Bill Gillespie was playing in the sand with his young daughters at Pretty Bay, Birżebbuġa last Sunday when he felt something pricking his finger.

As he pulled his hand out of the sand, he found a used syringe jutting out of his palm.

"I just have a scratch on my finger now but at that moment I started to bleed and my body turned cold. I thought the worst," he said.

Mr Gillespie, an athlete training for an Ironman Triathlon, immediately rushed to the polyclinic where he underwent some blood tests to see whether he was infected with any diseases.

"I'll have the results next week but I'm going to have to do more tests for the next few months until I know I'm totally clear."

Luckily, the needle was an old one, so the likelihood of it being infectious was very low, he was told.

"The HIV virus, for instance, only lives for a short time outside the body," he explained.

But if it had just been used, the consequences would have been much worse.

"I was furious because I have never done anything to abuse my body. I work hard and train every day to keep fit. And to think everything can be ruined because of someone else's abuse and negligence really shocked me."

Mr Gillespie was impressed by the efficient and professional service at the Paola polyclinic.

"But one thing they said really disturbed me. They told me this was a common occurence," he said incredulously.

When he spoke to his neighbours and other residents who frequent the beach in Birżebbuġa, he realised that most people were also aware of this problem. "They even know that the heroin addicts use the middle part of the beach because that is where it is darkest at night."

Mr Gillespie has been coming to Malta with his family for years, partly because his extended family lives here but mostly because it is so safe and the people are "incredibly friendly".

"Now I'm more guarded. I have to make sure that if my daughters are building sandcastles they use spades rather than their bare hands."

But he is not satisfied with changing his behaviour because of "one or two selfish people".

"I've watched this beach develop from something not-so-pretty to this glorious promenade. After so much investment it does not make sense to have it ruined with something like this."

He said Malta needed to invest in some sort of filtering machines that could check the sand for syringes and other dumped objects that might be dangerous.

"This is not a problem that is unique to Malta. I know that no country can get rid of its drug problem. But I'm sure there's something we can do to keep our family beaches clean from this stuff."

cperegin@timesofmalta.com