Boy tripped into shaft over low wall

The teenager who died after falling down a seven-storey shaft on Sunday was playing hide and seek when he tripped over a wall that was just two courses high.

Samuel Attard Montalto, 16, was at a friend's apartment in the recently built Nazzareno Flats in In-Nazzarenu Street, Sliema when he and five other friends decided to play in a vacant penthouse on the roof in the evening.

Sources close to the investigation said the teenager, who was unfamiliar with the floor's layout, did not see the shaft in the darkness and fell over the low wall, plunging seven storeys to his death at about 7.15 p.m.

They said it was his shocked friends who called the emergency services. Police, civil protection personnel and paramedics replied.

Desperate attempts to revive Samuel were unsuccessful and he was confirmed dead on site. An autopsy yesterday established he died on impact.

Samuel's body was brought out of the shaft by civil protection officials after lengthy onsite investigations by the police and court experts appointed by Duty Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani, who is carrying out a magisterial inquiry into the tragedy.

The teenager, who lived in Zurrieq, was aspiring to become a computer technician, according to his profile on a social networking site. He wrote that he enjoyed riding his bicycle and was intrigued by computers.

kbugeja@timesofmalta.com