The Prime Minister feared he would permanently lose his eyesight when he was admitted to hospital last weekend as he battled pain that felt like blades slashing his eyes.

“It felt as if somebody was shredding my eyeballs – it was so excruciating that for the first time in my life I was crying in pain,” Joseph Muscat told The Sunday Times of Malta.

The incident happened on Sunday when some 60 people who had attended Labour’s weekly event in Żurrieq suffered burns or discomfort to their eyes. Dr Muscat was the worst affected and he was temporarily blinded after suffering radiation burns in both eyes. Sitting back in an armchair in a dimly lit room, with the shutters closed and the curtains drawn, Dr Muscat said he was on the mend but his eyes remained extremely sensitive to light.

Read the full story in The Sunday Times of Malta, the e-paper or timesofmalta.com premium here.

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