It took fire fighters nearly eight hours to put out a blaze at a farm in Naxxar on Saturday night.

The fire, possibly an act of arson, broke out at around 9.30 p.m., making short shrift of hay stored on site as feed for cows.

The police and civil protection personnel were immediately on site but the blaze had already spread considerably.

It was only at around 6 a.m. yesterday morning that the situation was brought under control, Civil Protection Department personnel told The Times.

The blaze caused considerable damage, destroying tons of hay, a tent and also damaging a vehicle, but none of the animals, mostly cows, died or were injured.

Duty Magistrate Edwina Grima is carrying out an inquiry and the police are also investigating the case.

There are a number of factors, particularly the fact that the fire broke out at night, which suggest that it could have been arson, a CPD officer said. This, however, would have to be determined by the investigations.