The seven-year-old boy who fell a height of five metres at Chadwick Lakes on Sunday was trying to get away from a barking Chihuahua when he slipped into the empty watercourse.

The boy remains critical after he suffered serious head injuries from falling onto a pile of rocks.

The police have spoken to the owner of the small dog, which was on a leash at the time, but are treating the case as an accident, sources said.

The boy was with his parents at about 3.35 p.m. in the area near the bridge accessible from the Mtarfa side.

Members of the Civil Protection Department brought the boy up, with six officers involved in lifting him up on a stretcher before he was rushed to hospital.

CPD director Patrick Murgo said this was an “unfortunate incident” in terms of safety.

Having a higher wall or railings around the edges of the watercourse could have helped. But, he said, the reality was that the authorities could not wall up everywhere in Malta and Chadwick Lakes was a place of environmental value.