Boy’s father says accident was preventable

The father of a nine-year-old boy who was critically injured after falling into a school yard last week believes the accident could have been averted.

“It could have been avoided because the gate leading to the area where he fell from wasn’t closed – it was open and he passed from there to pick up a ball,” David Fenech said.

His nine-year-old son Neil is in Mater Dei Hospital with a broken pelvis and serious head injuries after he fell a height of almost one storey into the yard of the Mellieħa primary school on Thursday.

The incident happened at around noon when Neil, who was playing with friends while attending Skolasajf, went after a ball that was thrown onto a rock wall.

“He went through the gate and climbed a height of around 10 courses for the ball, which was on a rocky area, and fell,” Mr Fenech said.

The boy was found on the floor in a state of semi-consciousness with blood coming out of his ears.

Luckily, his grandfather, who works at the school, was on site and immediately informed Mr Fenech.

“When I arrived, I found they had tried to sit him up and hold him in their laps. I called my wife and meanwhile a doctor and the police arrived,” he said.

Concerned for his son, Mr Fenech barely remembers what happened in the rush. “I didn’t have time to speak to the teachers or to anyone – everything happened so quickly.”

The doctor administered first aid until the ambulance arrived minutes later. But Mr Fenech said his son looked as though he was in a lot of pain. “He wasn’t recognising us,” Mr Fenech said.

Neil was taken to hospital and is still attached to a drip. He is no longer critical, but still in hospital.

“He always wants to sleep – he is constantly sleeping. We still don’t know when he can leave hospital,” Mr Fenech said. “We don’t know what happened.”

An education ministry spokes­man said the school playground was safe for the children to play in.

The boy was playing with friends in the playground under the supervision of a teacher. It seems the boy ran off and entered an enclosed area just off the playground, which was used to store basketball and netball equipment by the local community, the spokesman said.

“This open air enclosed area has a natural rock wall. The child seems to have climbed this wall to reach for a ball he was playing with. While trying to come back down, the child lost his balance and fell,” the spokesman said.

He refused to say if anyone will be held responsible because “a magisterial inquiry is being held and one should wait for outcome before commenting”.

Almost one year ago, a 15-year-old boy fell the height of one-storey into a construction site – also in Mellieħa.

The teenager, Ryan Caruana, had slipped into the site when he stepped over the wall – just three courses high – to collect his missing flip-flop, which was blown away.

His parents had publicly appealed to the authorities for a wall to be put up at the site. The Mellieħa council had identified 25 sites that were unsafe and informed the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.