Man's good deed saves his life

A kind act yesterday saved the life of a man whose ceiling caved in just when he walked out of the room to give a bottle of water to three men working on the roof of his apartment block.

Fredrick Bonnici, 33, who lives on the second floor of the three-floor block in St Philip Street, Senglea, was walking up the stairs towards the roof when the ceiling of his living room collapsed.

One of the workers, 35, was not so lucky. He broke his jaw and left shoulder blade when he fell through two floors of the building into Mr Bonnici's living room.

Luckily, the top floor is owned by a couple who live abroad, so it was empty, according to Mr Bonnici's father.

Civil Protection Department personnel were called on site and the injured worker was rushed to hospital although he is not in a critical condition.

The other two workers were not injured, the police said.

Mr Bonnici's father, Joe, said the workers were waterproofing the roof when the accident happened at about 10 a.m. His son, he said, had just walked out of his apartment to take some water to the workers.

"He was really lucky... Had he not been on his way to give the water to the workers...," he said, trailing off without finishing the sentence.

"He is not being allowed to go back into his apartment because the building is considered dangerous," he said, adding his son had moved in about two years ago.

"Neighbours said it sounded like a gas explosion."

Mr Bonnici explained that his son was the only resident in the block at the time because, besides the couple who are abroad, the woman who lives on the bottom floor happened to be out.