A driver left a trail of destruction when he sped down Merchants Street, Valletta, damaging street furniture and injuring a woman, eventually ending up in an empty reservoir in Marsa before his car burst into flames.

The man, who the police said was a 45-year-old Swede residing in Sliema, was driving a Mercedes with foreign licence plates. He was seen driving down Merchants Street from Castille Place, hitting the tables and chairs set in metal enclosures in the middle of the pedestrianised road at about 6 p.m.

Eyewitnesses said the car was driven at high speed and did not slow down when it hit the woman near the Evans Building at the lower end of the city.

The police said the woman, 37 of Mosta, was taken to hospital where she was found to be suffering from grievous injuries. Just minutes later, the Mercedes collided with a Toyota in Labour Road, Marsa, and soon after fell into the reservoir close to the Addolorata Cemetery.

The car was seen hitting a billboard and flying through a wire-mesh fence before coming to rest on its side in the reservoir. Passers-by stopped to help pull out the driver just before the car caught fire.

The flames were put out by Civil Protection Department personnel and the driver was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.