The three-year-old boy who wandered out of a State summer school on Monday was found crying and alone in the middle of a busy arterial road, according to the man who plucked him out of harm’s way.
Bernard Sammut, a sales representative who was on his way to a nearby supermarket, told Times of Malta he had spotted the “terrified” boy running through Hompesch Road in Fgura as cars tried to dodge him.
The child was seen calling out for his mother as traffic whizzed past him at around 10.30am.
“He is really lucky to be alive. Honestly, that road is extremely busy and dangerous to navigate from a pedestrian crossing, never mind if you’re a frightened three-year-old. I was shocked,” Mr Sammut said.
The young child had walked out of a Skolasajf classroom at the Fgura primary school completely unnoticed by staff. The Education Ministry has since said the boy was on his way to use the bathroom but had somehow managed to leave the school grounds.
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has initiated an inquiry into the incident to understand how the school’s gate was left unlocked.
The irate minister told Times of Malta on Wednesday he was furious that a child left in the State’s care had been put in harm’s way.
“I am angry and upset, both as a father and as a minister. This is something that cannot be defended,” he said.
Mr Sammut shared the minister’s distress. He said the young boy was lucky he had crossed from the middle of the busy street and not at the roundabout.
“Cars fly past that roundabout, and I shudder to think what would have happened to him had he crossed just a few metres further down the road,” he said. Once he had plucked him to safety, Mr Sammut desperately tried to get some answers from the boy but the experience had shaken the child.
“He was just sobbing uncontrollably. When I tried to ask him where his mother was he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even tell me his name,” Mr Sammut said.
He was just sobbing uncontrollably. When I tried to ask him where his mother was he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even tell me his name
Unfortunately, Mr Sammut did not realise that the young boy had left the primary school and instead thought he had simply walked out of the large supermarket on the other side of the road.
“I thought he may have run away while his parents were shopping so I left the boy with some other onlookers and dashed to the supermarket to ask if anyone had lost a child,” he said.
The boy spent at least 25 minutes under Mr Sammut’s care in a busy ironmonger’s, which seems to contradict information given to the minister that the boy had only been missing for some three minutes.
Mr Bartolo said he had very few details on the case when contacted on Wednesday, as he was still collecting statements from all parties involved and there were many conflicting versions.
The kindergartener’s journey did not end there. Mr Sammut said another pedestrian then volunteered to take the boy to the Fgura police station, where officers eventually contacted his parents.