An advert for the Seabank hotel, where a worker died in a roof collapse last year, has been criticised as distasteful for using a Maltese expression that plays on the imagery of falling ceilings.

Latvian Maksims Artamonovs, 27, died when the roof of a nightclub under construction at the complex collapsed in March 2012.

The Mellieħa hotel, now called the Seabank Resort and Spa, reopened in August following a €32 million expansion project.

The advert aired on local television, literally translated from Maltese, says: “Summer is here: the heat, children finished school and a ceiling falling on your head (saqaf se jaqa’ fuq rasek) – we at the Seabank Resort and Spa know what you are looking for…”

The expression ‘a ceiling falling on your head’ means people prefer being outdoors (as opposed to under a roof) during summer.

Seabank owner Silvio Debono, who is currently abroad, said he was not aware of the advert’s content and would be contacting the producers to look into it.

A hotel spokesman said the advert was originally written in English and the person who translated it made an unfortunate mistake. It will be withdrawn.