Dinner guests injured in floor collapse as town feast was being celebrated

A birthday party went horribly wrong on Sunday evening in Żabbar when a kitchen collapsed into a basement, injuring three men and two women, as the village feast was being celebrated.

Marlene Casha, who was celebrating her 60th birthday, was entertaining a man, 60, and his daughter, 33, and another two men, aged 55 and 28, to dinner at her house in San Lawrenz Street.

The Feast of Our Lady of Graces, which was being held a stone’s throw away in the village square, was a perfect backdrop to the party...until disaster struck.

Sometime between 8.40 and 8.45 p.m., a neighbour, who also happened to be entertaining guests, was shocked by a deafening noise next door.

“We were having dinner when we suddenly heard a loud bang from next door,” said the man, gesturing at his living room wall.

“We all ran round to the woman’s house to see what had happened and found the woman hanging onto the edge and four people lying in the basement amid the rubble,” he continued as he checked his walls for any structural damage caused by the cave-in.

The woman was pulled up by neighbours who, however, did not risk trying to recover the others because they were unsure about the injuries they may have suffered in the fall.

Minutes after being called in, firemen and police rescued them and they were taken to hospital.

A police spokesman said the 55-year-old man was seriously injured and was kept in hospital for further observation. The rest were only slightly injured and released after treatment.

The house has been padlocked and cordoned off until the damage is assessed by architects.

“Neighbours have been warning her that the floor was slowly giving way. But while others reinforced theirs with concrete, she did not,” the neighbour said.

The owner of a shop situated round the corner was also on site yesterday morning to check whether any damage had been done to his property.