Updated: Seabank collapse - Missing worker found dead this morning

Joe Xuereb

Mar 9th, 00:25

Now wouldn't it be nice if whoever owns this complex took it upon themselves to return this young man to his family in Latvia, and pay for his funeral. Failing that, the Church could help and, why not? a national collection for the gesture. Any extra cash would go to the family. It is a small price to pay for the loss of a son, working away from home(I imagine it is not nice losing a son who is far away from home. He may be 27 years old but to his mum he's still one of her babies; maybe the only one). Now THAT would be an R.I.P. worth something. And can we have his name please. Thank you. I want to remember him in my 'prayers' as someone who passed 'my way' but somehow, tragically, did not linger long enough.

Joe Grech

Mar 7th, 16:05

Who's accountable for this death?

Ms maria bonnici

Mar 7th, 15:41

was it the mixing and making of the concrete that went bad, because after all it happened so quickly after it was built............... was it up to standards?

Ms maria bonnici

Mar 7th, 15:38

yes this man had and has a name................................not the Latvian, had it been maltese i am sure his name would be,,,,,,,,,,,,,,what a tragic death for such a young man! rest in peace

Paul Borg

Mar 7th, 14:39

Such happenings always have very, very sad endings as a human life has perished. My sympathy with workers and the family.

But what has also been very sad before this happening is the loss of valuable land and valuable natural environment lost forever at Ghadira simply because we have a government that could not care less about the environment and is not able to block greedy permits. It is a real pity that people who normally brag about how much they love the natural environment (and the Mellieha environment) have not put their foot down solidly blocking whatever permits developers wanted to destroy once and forever whatever nature had developed in that area.

This brings to my mind another very, very sad happening at close by Selmun, also in Mellieha, where a purely agricultural environemnt was permanently ruined for ever simply to build a factory, a fish packaging factory! This was a disgrace that our posterity will have to suffer for ever in the furture simply because no one, no one, would refuse permission to developers to ruin the countryside at Selmun. Unfortunately there has been no one brave enough to stop bulldozers from ruining our garigues and our environment. Poor Mellieha. Poor Malta.

Paul P. Borg

S. Bonello

Mar 7th, 12:37

Do they know his name at least ghax hlief "The Latvian", "the Worker" "the man" this poor soul has still not been named.
RIP
Hope serious steps to improve safety are taken.

DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D.,

Mar 7th, 12:03

There you are WE THE PEOPLE have the first clue : a MAY 2012 DEADLINE, hence WE THE PEOPLE fathom out the pressure for the work to be finalised by that deadline as otherwise THE MONEY MATERIALISTIC MATTERS would have vented out their anger who knows at what price.................well there you have it, THE PRICE...........one man`s life lost, thousands of euros down the drain, insurance squabbling, so many passing the bucket of responsibility down the line, the encircled circle involved all doing the shush signs and with their eyes apportioning the percentage of blame around the circle but this not to be witnessed by the outside world, the outer farce takes place in accordance with the law and regulations including the autopsy of this singled worker [ Divine Blessings on his Spirit ] ...........and soon afterwards, all be silenced until eventually THE WORLD of glitz on the eve of a General Election will see the ribbon-cutting and blessings ceremony on yet another grand opening of yet another project entrusted to the gluttonous Encircled Cirle!! May this brother worker rest in peace.

Astrid Vella

Mar 7th, 11:58

Our hearts go out to the Latvian worker and his family at this terrible news.

One can only hope that this fatality, which comes after a whole series of injuries and fatalities on construction sites these last few months, will finally lead the Authorities, and especially the MRRA to seriously review their building regulations and enforcement, which are obviously out of date with today's far more ambitious projects.

The Authorities need to finally admit that the assessment of safety of project needs to be included in MEPA's processing of permits. If MEPA has the remit to look into relatively more trivial matters like the colour of buildings and the finish of balconies, it is scandalous that the Authorities have not taken the safety of human lives into consideration years ago.

OHSA needs to be beefed up and given real teeth. I know that it can hardly cope with its present workload, hence the number of incidents on construction sites. Where is enforcement? Where are the penalties? This is not to mention the total disregard for the safety of neighbours or passers-by which is not the remit of OHSA, so, yet again, the buck is passed.

The authorities' failure to address these shortcomings reinforces the perception that the governments of the last two decades care more for the interests of the large developers than for protecting human lives.

I know that it will be said that given such a tragedy this is not the time to be raising such issues, but I beg to differ. If questions are not raised and issues addressed at such a time, when will they be? We owe it to this poor Latvian, his colleagues and indeed workers and residents all over Malta to take his death as the catalyst to finally bring about real change in regulating the sector so that he may be the last such fatality for a long time.

Carmen J. Borg

Mar 7th, 11:54

This is nothing yet. Wait for it. It will one day surely happen. Why not?
A tragic accident has just happened and a foreigner died. We are all sorry but for how long? Soon we'll be reading other stories involving other deaths. How careful are workers when working like blind folded people on buildings without understanding what and why they are doing in the first place/
Yes, I visualize a tragic multi-storey collapse. Has any body noticed to cite one example that the new Parliament Building, in Valletta, has a steel structure. Has anyone tried to find out if any safety precautions are undertaken to give enough time for the people to evacuate the building in the event of fire? I doubt it. There are buildings in Valletta that I fear - really fear- to enter. In Malta, people never think that these things happen everywhere even in 'Blessed Buildings'.
Someone commented much earlier that MEPA ought to involve itself in examining the specification for the proposed buildings. It is not part of the Town Planning Law, so MEPA could claim clean hands. Well it's time the Law was amended for this to happen and sooner than later. It is done in serious countries so why not here?

Aaron Freiberg

Mar 7th, 10:56

Here's one more that I missed:

"An 18 year old construction worker from Mosta was injured early yesterday afternoon when he fell a height of about two storeys at a construction site in Birkirkara."

Chris Calleja

Mar 7th, 10:56

Why Police and Investigators assessing the damage are not even wearing the basic Health and Safety Equipment, namely a helmet and high visibility vests. On all construction site this measure is imperative to be followed, even more on a site where the level of risk is above normal, as this case following such accident and keeping in mind that there may still have been other dangers in the zone.
These people are expected to lead by example ......... they surely did!

Aaron Freiberg

Mar 7th, 10:40

This is a repeating trend in Malta. I searched Google for "worker
injured in fall". Here's what I got:

"A 57 year-old worker was seriously injured in a fall while on a
building site in Triq Kepler, Qortin, limits of Mellieha."
"A 54-year old construction worker from Mosta died after falling a
height of three storeys. The accident happened in the early morning at
Triq Bir ir-Riebu in Rabat."
"A construction worker has died after falling five storeys at the
building site of the Malta International Airport's Skyparks business
centre."
"A man in his early forties from Tarxien was yesterday taken to
hospital after he fell off a roof while carrying out construction
work."
"The man, a 33-year-old foreigner fell from the ladder of a fixed
crane, which he was climbing. The accident happened in Burmarrad Road,
Burmarrad"
"A 41 year-old construction worker was injured in a fall on a
construction site this morning. The incident happened inside a factory
within the San Gwann Industrial Estate"
"Two young workmen were seriously injured yesterday, after falling
down a shaft at a construction site in Qawra."
"A 59-year-old construction worker from Siġġiewi died tragically
yesterday when he was hit by a load which plummeted from a tower crane
after the steel lifting rope failed and snapped."
"A 63-year old man from Vittoriosa was critically injured today after
falling the height of one storey in a private residence in
Vittoriosa."
"A 21-year old from Nigeria is in danger of dying after he fell in a
shaft in St Paul’s Bay."

Need I say more?

carmel cassar

Mar 7th, 10:39

The word accident is very rearly used right, most of the time it is mixed the word negligence.Do not get me wrong, please. I am not pointing finger to the workers, but, it can come from all those involved,in putting up the project. In my 60years of working experience, I have never met a clear cut accident.

Manuel Camilleri

Mar 7th, 10:20

RIP. Let us hope that those responsible for this tragedy and loss of life are brought to justice.

Ann Vella

Mar 7th, 10:07

Some solid foundation?!

J. Tanti

Mar 7th, 10:00

May this poor man rest in peace.

Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Mr ALBERT LEONE GANADO

Mar 7th, 09:39

A proper investigation is called for. My intelligent guess is that sea water seepage wreaked havoc and sudden subsidence on the structural stability of the ground beneath the construction. I remember not so long ago facing a sudden two foot drop while driving to cirkewwa when the road opposite the building suddenly subsided.

Carmel (Nenu) Aquilina

Mar 7th, 09:17

Il-Mulej bierek lill dan il-ħaddiem martri, u għatieħ il-premju tas-sema, sabbar u bierek lil-familjari tiegħu u lill-ħaddiema kollha!

Sinjuri,

Għandna bżonn inkunu daqshekk prużuntużi u nibdew nfajru bl-addoċ kull ma jiġina f'moħħna' u f'ħalqna?

Għandu jkollna qalb, u daqsxejn rispett lejn kull minn kien involut fuq dan il-proġett?

Jien ma għandi l-ebda iċkenn dubju li fuq kull post tax-xogħol, l-ewwell ħaġa li kullħadd jipprova jagħmel ħiltu, hi, li ma jweġġa ħadd!

Mela il-periti u l-kuntratturi ma humiex ħaddiema wkoll li qed jaħdmu għall-familja?

Possibli ħadd minnkom li qed tipparteċipaw fuq dan il-blog qatt ma żbalja, u wara għedtu, ara x'waħda għamilt illum, kemm jien baħnan, kelli xorti li ma weġġajtx, jew miet?

Dawn inċidenti jiġru kullimkiek u fuq kull post tax-xogħol fid-dinja kollha, mhux Malta biss!

Anzi jien ngħid li l-Banbien veru jinsab magħna, li ma jiġrux ħafna iżjed inċidenti, f'din id-dinja tant mgħaġla ta'progress!

Ejjew mela ħbieb nibdew inkunu ftit prudenti u nibdew inġibu ftit rispett lejn l-inteliġenza tagħna nfusna, u mhux ngħidu u niktbu l-ħmerijiet, li fuq kollox ma jagħmlu l-ebda ġid lill-ħadd, anzi ħlief ħsara ma jagħmlux!

Ejjew ma nħaltux l-affarijiet, u nkunu rġiel u nisa inteliġenti ta' veru

Ejjew inħallu lill-awtoritajjiet kompetenti Maltin jagħmlu xogħolhom sewwa kif dejjem għamlu bl-akbar għaqal u proffesjonalita, u fuq kollox skond il-liġijiet ta'Malta.

Nawgura lill kull ħaddiem Malti u Għawdxi biex joqgħod dejjem ħsiebu hemm, u jieħu ħsieb ukoll lill sħabu l-ħaddiema!

Angie Schembri

Mar 7th, 09:07

Condolences to the family!!
Imagine if it were operating with clients in the night club and cars in the parking.....
WAS IT MADE OF LEGO?????????????????

Omar Mizzi

Mar 7th, 09:00

So many allegations. This is a permitted development. Somewhere something went wrong, the structure, the calculations, curing; it may be anything. Entities are not on site everyday, so all the comments on these institutions are without any basis.

kenny greenan

Mar 7th, 08:59

HEALTH & SAFETY DO NOT EXIST IN MALTA.
I am surprised it was only one poor victim.
I drove past the Seabank a few months ago & saw a workman standing on a top floor balcony, no barrier, no harness, with a huge hydraulic concrete breaker, breaking up the very concrete he was standing on!
Just like the abysmal driving habits,
MALTA NEEDS DRAGGED INTO THE 21ST CENTURY BEFORE MORE NEEDLESS "ACCIDENTS"

Kenny Greenan Edinburgh & Mellieha

M. Attard

Mar 7th, 08:33

Feeling sorry for this accident especially for the death person. Buildings can be constructed again at a price, but lives are priceless. I think his name should have been published as its not nice to refer to him just by his nationality.

Joseph Ellul

Mar 7th, 08:24

I am so sad that such disasters are happening all over the world. I am saddened that a fellow construction worker died due to structural failure. It was only a matter of time that this would happen in Malta. The writing was on the wall. Now that some people are in court on charges of corruption in government contracts, how many people could be involved in corruption in civil construction ? It is a matter for the civil building code to establish rules and regulations according to world standards in concrete reinforcement and cement content. This is apart from other rules like the country of origin of materials. For example in the US, steel reinforcment from China has been denied due to suspected low strength. Also, cement has a use by date and must not be used if found to have a high humidity content.
I hope that an indipendent engineer who knows his job will be appointed to investigate without interferance from interested parties.

Censu Filgolli

Mar 7th, 08:21

RIP to the poor fellow, and condolences to his family...

Brian Fenech

Mar 7th, 08:12

Don't you people have a heart? Can't you people be more sensible? Don't you consider that a person lost his life? Do we have to jump on conclusions, blaming this, blaming that, pointing our fingers at whoever in your empty minds think is responsible? Are you all architects, health & safety officials, Mepa officials?? GET A LIFE!!!!!

Charles Mangion

Mar 7th, 08:10

Are the poor workers Insured are they given the proper safety equipment? What about the foreign workers getting the right wages? these are question to be answered is there a health and safety manager full time on a progect that size with some 700 workers at one time? who is going to take the responability for all this?

GEORGE CUTAJAR

Mar 7th, 08:05

This was a tragic accident pure and simple.A life has been lost and various inquiries are on hand and we should let them take their course. It is of no use to blame MEPA, the contractor, the owner and whoever. The facts need to be established and it would be better if, at this stage, everybody keeps his opinion to himself.

Joe Julian Farrugia

Mar 7th, 08:01

Se jigri bhas-soltu? Ma hu responsabbli hadd?
Jekk dan pajjiz serju, xi hadd ghandu jerfa' r-responsabbilta ta' qtil involontarju.
Min mhux kapaci m'ghandux jaghmel esperimenti fuq hajjet in-nies.

BTW. il-bierah kienet IN BAD TASTE li waqt l-ahbarijiet intqal li issa l-progett se jaqa' lura... JAQA' LURA! SO WHAT? Tafu li miet bniedem? Tafu li setghu mietu aktar? Il-progett importanti aktar minn hajja jew mewt? Imbaghad jigi xi pampalun jghid li dan poplu li jghozz il-valuri!!!

P. Ciantar

Mar 7th, 07:25

what a tragedy and who is responsible for all this ????

Milos Zboril

Mar 7th, 07:17

I was deeply saddened to hear about the death of this worker... God with you

R. Caruana

Mar 7th, 06:49

Hemm bzonn illi x-xoghlijiet li jsiru mill-kuntratturi jigu spezzjonati sew mill-periti kemm f'hotels, binjiet ta' appartamenti u kull tender li jiehdu. Nittama li kull binja ohra f'Malta tinbena bil-galbu ghax eluf ta' nies jistghu jkunu fil-periklu.

Jason Falzon

Mar 7th, 06:40

Some two weeks ago I was watching tv and up came a VERY old, guess 1920s Laurel and Hardy silent movie. It was obviously very funny, as they were perched on iron beams of a huge skyscraper construction work. Tha backdrop was the city to give the illusion of the height. But then I realised that they were depicting exactly how they used to do things back then and how very similar we do things now in 2012, almost a century later.

Recently a worker died in a huge construction near the airport. I pass from there frequently and a couple of days ago, I saw another worker walking one of the very top platforms without a harness.

H&S need to wake up on the double and smell the coffee. H&S are years behind compared to the scale of constructions we are doing.

And I'd better not start on MEPA, as I'd consume the keyboard.

Mr John Borg

Mar 6th, 23:09

It might not necessarily be the architect's fault, for several reasons such as:

1. The structure might have become unstable due to the heavy rainfall which maybe did not give it sufficient time to set.
2. Architect's orders for a specific grade of concrete might have been disregarded in order to save on costs
3. The structure might not have dried sufficiently prior to dismantling the shuttering.

So before we go about pointing fingers, please try and stop being experts on everything.

DR EMMANUEL BEZZINA,MA,MAG.JUR.[EU Law],LL.D.,

Mar 6th, 23:00

NO FINGERS BEING POINTED: will WE THE PUIBLIC be ever formally informed as to how this could have possibly occurred when so much land was taken to construct quickly a project for the proverbial intake of plenty-a-buck but apparently without certain attention as to the crucial factors of safety , stability and security.

Who will assume responsibility now or will we have OMERTA` very much in action - politics is equally being mentioned as having played BIG in this doomed project. THE PEOPLE must know - as a contributor pin pointed THANK DIVINITY that this obviously negligent and abusive undertaking collapsed now before then where TRAGEDY would have been TERRIFYING..............

AN EXPLAINATION PLEASE................................????????????????????

Michael Tabone

Mar 6th, 21:39

A collapse like that is unacceptable!

In Civil Engineering today, such incidents must never be allowed to happen. Who is responsible, what previous work have they been involved in and how they were able to get their positions must be investigated.

In a developed country like Malta, such incidents should never be allowed to occur. Civil Engineering is a respectable & mastered profession where mistakes in this day and age are unacceptable.

Steve Sant

Mar 6th, 20:14

I have two questions to ask the Architect;
1. How safe is the rest of the building?
2. Imagine the Hotel had opened to the public and collapsed then ?. Who would have been responsible?.

Ivan Calleja

Mar 6th, 20:07

First of all i really wish that the worker trapped beneath the rubble is found and alive!! Secondly i wanted to point out that this extension is simply monstrous!! I was shocked when i passed in front of it last week and saw the huge extension and visual pollution such a development was going to create in an area where the built environment should be kept at a minimum!!

Giovanni Rizzo

Mar 6th, 19:03

JISTA JKUN FORSI L-PEDAMENTI MA HUMIEX DAQS HEKK SODI PERESS LI L-BAHAR QIEGHED TANT VICIN?

Ms maria bonnici

Mar 6th, 18:41

what a terrible tragedy, hope all the work was all up to standard...........................................

Peter Galea

Mar 6th, 18:27

partit wiehed biss ghandna li jhobb u jiggieled ghal ambjent. bis-serjeta bla ebda irbit ma hadd u l-ebda interess personali jew li jogbu lil xi hadd Inutli toqghod tibku il qerda tal ftit raba li fadlilna.
ivvutaw lil Alternattiva demokratika.

Franco Buttigieg

Mar 6th, 18:26

One should not be pointing fingers at the different central Authorities, this unfortunate accident is not the result of a building permit or of some unsafe work practice by site workers, to me it looks more like a structural defect or a lack of proper ground investigation.
The responsibility would lie on that person or organization who would have taken on the obligation through contractual agreements to make sure that the building works are carried out according to good practice, there would be a line of people involved and the buck will stop on that person or organization according to what caused the structural collapse be it negligence or quality of materials or workforce.
At this point all one should do is hope that the people on site are all counted for and that their health is given the upmost attention, then later the law will handle who’s tort it was that brought about such an unpleasant accident.

Lianne Mifsud

Mar 6th, 18:18

Bhal ma jghidu kultant kull deni hudu b gid ghaliex Alla hares qatt dan il bini waqa meta kien qed jiffunzjona ara xi tragedja kienet issir.J alla dik il persuna li hemm mirduma tinstab hajja.

Andrew Abela

Mar 6th, 17:54

'Sar il miraklu tal konkrit. ihokku
ghoddhom mas-shab id-djar ta'go l'ibliet;
qsari fit-twieqi, daghwa kontra s-seher
ta'linji dritti jigru paralleli.

Kaxxa hdejn kaxxa, saret kaxxa kbira
irqiqa w twila rhanzzgha mill-frughat
ta'xogh'l mahdum bl'iskarpellin waqt holma
ta'frott u ward u angli zghar jittajru.

sar il miraklu tal konkrit. Kemm sahha
jahbu il hitan misluta helu helu,
u s-soqfa bicca wahda bla xejn travi,
bi xbieki tal-hadid, jifilhu d-dinja!

u tithak, tithak, tara qed tintagar
il-gebla bajda krema ser tinqasam
biex issir djar botnin bla sens ta'figer
-qirda tas-sahha mbierka tal bennejja'

sar il-miraklu tal-konkrit. il gebla
tithalla biss biex tifred ftit ghelieqi
b'hitan imbewqa tas sejjieh li jaghzlu
pulzier min iehor ta hamrija ghajjiena

minkejja dan, it trejqa tal mistrieh
bejn zewg hitan titkennen tas sejjieh'

Marjanu vella: 'Hitan tas-sejjieh'

Noel Damato

Mar 6th, 17:53

People under debris can also mean the multi storey builds and multi storey car parks where loads of people are using such now a days. Does these scenarios look like earthquake. Surely we tend to have more drownings but such equipment bought for deep sea will not be used for drowning in some tens of metres. Imagine such incident happens in night life areas. Sure people will drown under debris

John Dee

Mar 6th, 17:31

Does the health and safety authority authority here even know the work is in progress, and if so what steps have they been taking to protect against such an incident?

Peter Murray

Mar 6th, 17:26

The Sea Bank hotel is only closed for guests staying in the rooms as inexplicably the Leisure Centre complete with bars ,childrens games rooms and eateries is open for business -but lord knows how or why given the state and condition of the surrounding area.

Noel Damato

Mar 6th, 17:05

imagine in an earthquake how prepared the Civil Protection is... Thousands of euro to buy new dogs ...takes around 5hrs to maybe locate one person. Maybe the newly both divers equipment round 100 thousand euro can locate . But the Civil Protection personnel will be given second hand personal protective equipment bought from UK Imagine searching for thousands of people under debris.

alfred seguna

Mar 6th, 17:05

I think we have a health and safety authority in Malta but I don't think there are enough inspectors to supervise at least the so many construction sites all over the Island.I think also that construction sites should also have a health and safety inspector on site.I think we risk to much and we take everything for granted.May I ask if we take Mater Dei Hospital were there ever practiced any safety drills?Also in other hospitals were there any risk assessments done.What about government departments and hotels,shipyards and factories?I think we take everything for granted and things most of the time remain on paper.

Sandro Camilleri

Mar 6th, 17:04

The Seabank Hotel is currently closed and undergoing a major extension.

I question this statement since last December the Hotel was also carrying out works and my daughter was invited to a Party 'in the newly reburbished kids' area'. The place was not at all safe (particularly for children) -part of the kids' area was still under construction and one child ran down the stairs and could easily access broken glass windows etc. The whole place smelt of concrete and one could see that there was still work to be done. I don't know how the management could open this place in that state not even worrying about the lives of the children that went there.

joe vella

Mar 6th, 17:04

Enough comments have been passed - the only fact I would like to point out is that the section of road that passes just near the hotel has collapsed twice

the investigators should keep this fact in consideration when they carry out their work

Peter Shaw

Mar 6th, 16:48

Health & Safety non-existent !!!!

Mark Caruana

Mar 6th, 16:32

The block of apartment I live in was given a permit for another floor and penthouse by the MEPA. The residents contested the penthouses due to the rights for the roof. Contruction was halted by the owner and the kontrabejt was not done leaving the ceiling bare taking in water on it. When I go on the roof I see large pools of water and I am afraid that this roof won't hold more especially due to the heavy rains we experienced and it will cave in on us residents. It is so unfair that MEPA issues permits with no targets of completion and without inspection on the construction sites. This should be amended and done especially on those construction sites that are being already used as dwellings.

ELIZABETH MALLIA

Mar 6th, 16:32

This is another story which shows negligence in Health & Safety within the construction industry in Malta. Health & Safety should not only be implemented on site but is also the responsibility of the designer who ensures that he carries out a proper Design Risk Assessment and advices protective measures to be taken when delivering the project. From my experience working as an architect in Malta a few years ago this subject was never taken seriously by the authorities. When I compare this practice with the UK construction Laws and regulations it makes me realise how much more the Maltese Authorities need to prioritise Safety at Work.

Ms.D. Galea

Mar 6th, 16:28

I hope that architects are fully aware of fact that they can be dragged in the courts of law to face the consequences when there is loss of human life or third party damage caused directly or indirectly by the projects they undertake., no matter how big or small their projects may be.

Franco Attard Trevisan

Mar 6th, 16:18

Please refrain (at least for now) from jumping to conclusions... on a construction site like this one, the number of reasons for something to go wrong is endless.... Buildings don't usually collapse because of one thing, usually it's a chain of events which only an in depth inquiry might track down.

I wish the best of luck to the unfortunate worker still trapped... Hope he got somehow shielded from the enormous weight of the structure.

Ms.D. Galea

Mar 6th, 15:56

If the building regulations and laws are formulated by architects , it stands to reason that the main beneficiaries would be the developer and his architect. rather then hapeless neighbours and their third party rights or workers on construction sites.

The usual attitude of being strong with the weak and weak with the strong.

Francis Grech

Mar 6th, 15:45

Why is every know it all people are only mentioning the architect,why not also the concret supplier are they having the right mixture or the Perit who is suppose to be on the job ever so often so he can check what material is being used and the health and safety inspectors to see that every thing is being done according to law,if there are any of them around further more was this building being constracted by experience builders ?. I must also add that the people that are still not found will be OK when found.

Steve Zammit

Mar 6th, 15:35

I feel sorry for the worker but I dont feel sorry for the hotel in question....you're developing virgin land and replacing it with more CONCRETE nad further destruction of Ghadira bay as it once was....

Karl Farrugia

Mar 6th, 15:33

Don't you just love reading every's two-pence worth of what they think? As usual, we take pole position for jumping to conclusionS and passing judgements.

C Galea

Mar 6th, 15:25

Let us just hope that the poor worker survives.

A dome can easily buckle. There are many examples in the recent history. A 93.5m diameter dome designed by the best engineers of the period once failed in 1962 in Bucharest, Romania. It remained a puzzle why it happened. And in1970 the 53 m diameter Dome Auditorium of Long Island University, USA caved in after a snow storm.

But on the contrary our Mosta dome has resisted an air raid attack, and the Pantheon, the Roman temple for all gods (Rome AD 200), Hagia Sofia (Istanbul AD 537) the Brunelleshi dome (Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence 1420) which was erected without the use of scaffold and the Giacomo della Porta massive dome over St Peter (Rome 1590) the largest structure of its kind in Christendom and many others have all laughed at gravity and the elements.

Hope they find the reason why the one in Ghadira failed to avoid further incidents of the sort. And wish again for the worker's safety.

Richard Galea

Mar 6th, 15:17

Concrete takes longer time to reach its maximum strenght in cold tempretures....

S Vella

Mar 6th, 15:14

Xoghol tal ghagla u nuqqas ta safety!!

C. Borg

Mar 6th, 14:50

shouldn't you experts be on site investigating what went wrong?? or you're just a bunch of pigeons giving your amateur opinion?? It is a case where only the investigation will tell us what went wrong. If you were not there and you did not build the structure why you are blaming the people?? And as regards to the those who mentioned the owner of the site, I am sure that the least that he wanted was this accident to happen or anything leading to it!!!!!

emanuel busuttil

Mar 6th, 14:38

if memory serves when i worked at that hotel for some 6 years the underground parking lot had water seeping thru the walls maybe it contributed to weakening of structure due to added weight on top of it? ,of course this is only speculation and not an educated guess but a big maybe?

Ms Borg

Mar 6th, 14:29

Poor guy, I feel very sorry for the missing person. May God be with him. Who can trust going in any of the new structure when all the work is completed? This has been either an archtectural or a material flaw. In either way, none of the completed building can be trusted unless the architectural plan is reviewed again and the material used is thoroughly tested by a third party.

Melody SantAngelo

Mar 6th, 14:23

A building collapses, its the architects' fault surely cause nothing else could have gone wrong - what pathetic reasoning!

My heart goes out to the missing and injured in this story.

Astrid Vella

Mar 6th, 14:16

It is scandalous that applications for MEPA permits are not assessed for safety before being approved and that MEPA washes its hands of this matter of life and death.

FAA has handled cases where the objectors' architects have testified that proposed buildings will be unsafe for those living beneath, and yet MEPA washed its hands since the Development Planning Act does not include such issues. Hearing MEPA officials tell old people, scared out of their wits at the prospect of being buried alive, that they can only start a court case against the developer, really shows the injustices that are still being perpetrated.

The fact that MEPA's remit does not cover something as vital as safety, and yet it intervenes on issues that should not be it's business like whether a client has paid off his architect, really does show that the Development Planning Act was drawn up by architects, to only protect the interests of architects and developers.

Joseph Calleja

Mar 6th, 14:12

If this accident happened because of shotty work or shotty material then someone has to be held responsible and not sweep the whole incident under the carpet as we usually do. I think the whole construction should be examined to make sure that it was built safe. I am sure an investigation is already on the way and hopefully there is a good transparent explanation of how and why this piece of building collapsed. Too bad a life was lost in the rubble, it could have been much worse.

Ms.D. Galea

Mar 6th, 14:01

Fejn huma l'inginier u il-perit ta' dan il-progett, il kuntrattur u sid il-propjeta?

Nispera li issa, ghax il haddiem nieqes hu barrani , ma jhallux ix-xoghol jibqa ghaddej qiesu xejn ma hu xejn .

Kullhadd jiftakar x gara fil passat meta sahansitra girien spiccaw mietu mirduma kawza ta hsara li saret fil propjeta taghhom waqt xoghol ta' kostruzzjoni f siti vicin. Ix-xoghol baqa ghaddej QIESU XEJN MA HU XEJN U HADD MA INSTAB HATI!

DAQSHEKK HI RHISA IL-HAJJA UMANA F'DAN IL -PAJJIZ?!

David Smith

Mar 6th, 13:56

Structural solidity of buildings that are being constructed is not the responsibility of OHSA.

Joseph Cini

Mar 6th, 13:53

First of all let's pray for this worker. No one should jump into conclusion yet. But someone should shoulder the responsability for this.

Timothy Cachia

Mar 6th, 13:31

Nice architect eh. I am sorry for the worker, but would have happened if the place was full of people when it collapsed.

Mark Vella

Mar 6th, 13:19

No one is held accountable, noone is responsible and noone will be held liable for this....

I wonder if the architect who planned this structure is the same one that planned the rest??? however it could also be that the material was not good.

Charles Micallef

Mar 6th, 13:12

Let us spare a thought and pray for the missing worker! that must comes first and before any blame is attributed to anyone concerned!

Daniel Falzon

Mar 6th, 13:04

It's a very sad news for the building Industry and even worse for those workers missing. One thing the people should know is how come such a big structure of concrete only requires a few days to load it with bricks and material.I don't want to be in the architects shoes and even less under the structure.

R Zammit

Mar 6th, 12:58

Firstly - I hope that the missing person is found and in good condition.

Secondly - Optimistically - better now than later when the thing would have been in use potentially with hundreds of people !

Anyone going to shoulder responsibility over this or is it going to be "Oh Sorry it happened...'and thats the buck of it'" ?

Clive Gerada

Mar 6th, 12:49

At least it did not collapse when it was being used, imagine how much people would have died!

Ivan Tabone

Mar 6th, 12:43

Shouldn't the experts be investigating the scene instead of posting expert comments here?

Let's just hope that the missing are found in a good state and that such incident is not repeated!

Mr Savio Camilleri

Mar 6th, 12:40

I wonder how come MTA is not mentioned in this report. They are there to see as it falls under their remit?

B Attard

Mar 6th, 12:38

Health and Safety only there to impose hefty fines on the small fish.
This seems to be the second tragic accident in days involving large scale construction sites.
According to the OHSA rules, there should have been an authorsed person (who will be paid hunders or maybe thousands of euros)to inspect and advice regularly on site.
Who will get the blame now? The poor worker if it's the case?

Edward Curmi

Mar 6th, 12:26

I wouldn't want to be in the architect's shoes..Hopefully no one is seriously injured!

ALBERT FENECH

Mar 6th, 12:25

Ok, let's not jump to hasty conclusions, but then let's make a few observations.

For a structure to collapse like this it was (1) either badly built (2) the foundations were badly laid down (3) the actual ground it was built on is subject to subsidence. I think that other reasons such as a bomb, detonation of some kind, a meteor falling from space etc can be eliminated.

So - what went wrong?

ALBERT FENECH

Joe A. Borg

Mar 6th, 12:20

We are very lucky that this structure collapsed now and not when it was finished and full of people.

The whole structure integrity should now be put in doubt and checked for structural defects to ensure that no short cuts have been taken.

In the meantime I would like to sympathise with the filmily of the victims and hope that the responsible are brought to justice and victims compensated.

vella m

Mar 6th, 12:03

The architect involved must be very worried!

joseph mifsud

Mar 6th, 12:02

jalla dawk li hemm maqbuda taht id debris jinstabu hajjin.

S. Zammit

Mar 6th, 12:02

Hope all ends well!

Ms Maria Vella

Mar 6th, 12:01

If jumping to conclusions was an Olympic sports we would have quite a few gold medallists

Mario Micallef

Mar 6th, 12:01

Il-hajja umana m'ghadha tiswa xejn!! jien ma nistax nifhem kif is-sibt li ghadda rajt fuq TVM servizz dwarha li trid tiftah sa mejju u ghaddejt minn hdejha gimghatejn ilu kien ghad hemm kullimkien konkos..u bdejt nghid bejn u bejn ruhi...

Michael Rizzo

Mar 6th, 11:53

I think it would be better if we wait to see what went wrong before jumping to conclusions.... Lets hope no one is hurt

Tony Busuttil

Mar 6th, 11:42

where is the health and safety. who was responsible for safety on site. jew qed nibnu fuq ir ramel?

Bernice Vella

Mar 6th, 11:34

It's sad to see this happening to something that was a huge part of my childhood :(