What did internet users view on timesofmalta.com last year? Kurt Sansone goes through the figures and finds that political stories failed to make it into the top 10.

Storms, accidents and crime were the most read stories on timesofmalta.com last year, pushing politics out of the top 10 list.

Readers remained passionate about politics, as two of the top three stories that elicited most comments were politically related

The unusual death of a Żabbar man, who was struck by lightning during a violent storm in September, was the most read story. It knocked up more than 198,000 page views.

The unfortunate accident was one of many incidents that happened in a 48-hour period when lightning, strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc around the island.

Another two storm-related stories that were continuously updated also made the top 10 list. A warning issued by the Civil Protection Department, accompanied by reports of storm damage, placed third with more than 181,000 page views and another story on the trail of destruction left by strong winds came in seventh with almost 115,000 views.

Readers also avidly followed crime stories as they unfolded online. Three of the top 10 most read stories were crime-related with the New Year’s Day double stabbing in Sliema coming in second with almost 184,000 views.

The discovery in the outskirts of Paceville of a dead woman, who had gone missing two days earlier, placed fifth while the discovery of lawyer Margaret Mifsud’s lifeless body in a car just off the Coast Road in April was the ninth most read story.

Accidents made up the rest of the list. The collapse of a concrete platform at the Seabank Hotel in March that killed one worker placed fourth with more than 151,000 views.

A spectacular three-bus collision in October that saw 24 people injured when one of the buses rammed into Floriana’s Portes des Bombes, notched up almost 127,000 views and placed sixth.

The Għarb fireworks factory explosion in November that killed four men and the tragic shipwreck of cruise ship Costa Concordia in January wrapped up the 10 most read stories in 2012.

But although political stories did not feature in the list, another set of figures showed that readers remained very passionate about politics. Two of the top three stories that elicited most comments were politically related.

The recent Xarabank episode when Nationalist MP Franco Debono turned up instead of Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia for a debate with PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil came top of the pile.

The story that unfolded on a Friday evening notched up more than 1,200 comments. A few days later, timesofmalta.com reported the resignation of Dr Farrugia from the Labour deputy leadership post and the story carried more than 850 comments, pushing it into third place.

What started as a light-hearted exchange between an Italian restaurant owner and his Maltese patrons on Facebook during the Italy-Malta game in September soon turned into a pot of boiling water.

The restaurateur insulted the Maltese and this immediately led to the creation of two Facebook pages calling for a boycott. When the story was reported on timesofmalta.com it collected more than 900 comments, making it the second most commented article.

The blogosphere on timesofmalta.com also had its fair share of views with The Times features writer Ramona Depares and freelancer Alison Bezzina occupying the three topmost read blogs.

Ms Depares’s take on a court case involving a man who raped a 15-year-old girl and later married her under the heading The Maltese: Masters at Irresponsible Fornication Since 1,000BC came top with more than 9,000 views.

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Olympic disappointment and football taunts

Malta’s hopes for the first Olympic medal were dashed when shooter William Chetcuti had a disappointing performance in London.

A report on timesofmalta.com of his first comments to national station TVM just after missing a place in the final, accompanied by a video of his girlfriend in Malta, notched up almost 73,000 views.

The article was the most read sports story last year followed at a distance by the controversy involving the Italian Serie A team Catania, which complained of dismal hotel treatment while on a training camp in Malta.

The Catania story in January was viewed al-most 43,000 times. In third place, as expected, was a story on the Euro 2012 clash between Italy and England, accom-panied by footage of Italian fans celebrating and honking their car horns in St Julian’s.

Italy won the quarter final match on penalties and the story that gave it a Maltese flavour collected more than 30,000 views.