Survivors of a building collapse have told a court how they witnessed the house cave in, burying an elderly woman under tons of rubble.

The incident occurred in Cathedral Street, Sliema, on April 12,2000. Rita Vella, 84, died hours after the incident, caused by excavation works behind the building. Two men were lucky to escape without serious injury.

Contractors Contractors Carmel Micallef 46 of Mosta and Raymond Calleja, 45 of Zebbug were both convicted of gross negligence and each fined €4,000.

Survivor Joseph Vella, the victim's son, told the court that on the day of the incident cracks had opened up in the building.

He took contractor Raymond Micallef in to show him the cracks and Micallef suggested that they should temporarily move to a hotel.

Mr Vella said that he felt uneasy. His mother was frail, and therefore slow. As she stood near a table he saw a wall collapse behind her and then everything burst  on top of them.

He said that debris from two storeys fell on his mother He himself suffered cuts and needed stitches. His mother was buried under the debris.

Anthony Mifsud, brother of the victim, said that as he sat at table for lunch, opposite Mrs Vella his nephew and the contractor went around the house inspecting the cracks. Suddenly he saw dust  falling from the ceiling and then he heard a loud cracking sound.

Somebody shouted a warning  and pushed him out. He too saw a wall fall outward.

Dr Jonathan Joslin, an emergency doctor, said that Mrs Vella had suffered head injuries and had a weak pulse when she was pulled out of the rubble. She also had other injuries and died after a few hours.

In her judgement, Magistrate Miriam Hayman said the contractors had admitted that they did not keep the proper distance between their excavation works and the house of the deceased. A sub-contractor had testified that he was forced not to keep the distance by one of the contractors. However the contractors had testified that the architect had wanted the proper separation to be observed.

There was no doubt that there had been gross negligence by the contractors, especially during the excavation work.  The contractors were therefore fined €4,000 each.

Architect Philip Azzopardi, 51 of Naxxar was acquitted since he had not even been informed that the excavation works had started.