Rescuers were yesterday working tirelessly into the night in the hope of finding the Latvian worker trapped beneath two storeys of rubble when a new structure at the Seabank Hotel, in Mellieħa, collapsed at 10.40 a.m.
The incident could have had far worse consequences if it had taken place just two hours later, when many of the 700 workers on site usually congregate under the structure – a future nightclub – for their lunch break.
The process was painstakingly slow as rescuers, using diggers and cranes, sifted the rubble gradually, just in case the trapped man had found a pocket of air and was still alive.
However, rescuers believe the chance of the man’s survival are remote. They confirmed no sounds had been heard from the trapped man but three sniffer dogs identified his location, leading them to believe he was buried beneath five metres of rubble.
The search started after head counts confirmed the young Latvian worker was missing. The man, in his 20s, was dismantling scaffolding under the dome-like wooden structure when the roof of the car park underneath caved in. Another man, also said to be foreign, had been helping him but left minutes earlier, escaping unharmed.
The Seabank is undergoing a major renovation that will see it turned into one of Malta’s biggest hotels, with some 500 rooms.
The Latvian’s colleagues immediately lent a helping hand and some construction workers created a human chain to shift pieces of wooden debris from the area.
Many others watched from afar and appeared very emotional as they waited to hear the fate of their colleague, though no one seemed to know him well.
The large gazebo-like wooden structure was to house a massive nightclub spanning one tumolo of land and was produced in Italy. It stood above a one-storey car park, where the man is likely to have been at the time.
The cause of the collapse is unknown but sources said works taking place on another part of the site may have possibly triggered the cave-in.
Luckily, a large tower crane placed just near the future nightclub did not come crashing down during the incident.
Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima appeared on site in the afternoon to conduct an inquiry. Court expert Richard Aquilina was also on site.
The operation involved rescueworkers and volunteers from the Civil Protection Department, Emergency Fire and Rescue Unit and Red Cross.
Lights were set up in the evening to allow the operation to carry on through the night.
There seemed to be no relatives or close friends of the trapped man around.
Seabank CEO Arthur Gauci addressed the press early in the day to explain that one man was unaccounted for. He said any explanation for the incident at this stage would be pure speculation.