The collapse of a whole quarry side in Mqabba, which damaged a school playground, may have been caused by excessive watering of plants by the school, according to the quarry owner.
Ċensu Farrugia, known as Ta' Puzzu, yesterday said no rock cutting had taken place for quite some time in the area that collapsed.
"The school used to leave a lot of water running and I think that is what caused it," Mr Farrugia said with reference to a tract of soil on school premises which separated the play area from the boundary wall with the quarry.
However, the chief executive of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority had said it was "still early in the day" to determine what led to the rock face collapse.
The crumbling rock face pulled down the dividing wall; the school yard, which includes a five-a-side artificial pitch, stands just metres away from what is now a sheer drop.
A small well used by school staff to water the trees and plants in the yard and a larger disused reservoir nearby were also destroyed.
Stressing that nobody was hurt in the incident, Mr Farrugia insisted the authorities knew there was a quarry when they built an extension to the school a couple of years ago.
The land on which the synthetic pitch was built was previously leased to him before government took it back, he said.
The quarry's boundary wall runs alongside the back of the school perimeter and after the 12-storey cliff face collapsed, deep furrows in the soil on the school premises were still visible, raising doubts as to the stability of the rock beneath.
Mr Farrugia said he would be filling in the quarry with stone debris and everything would "return back to normal, removing the danger".
The OHSA was only informed last Friday about the incident and immediately ordered the quarry owner not to use or approach the area where the collapse occurred.
OHSA chief executive Mark Gauci said the quarry owner had cooperated even though last Friday construction trucks were seen loading stone towards the centre of the quarry just metres away from the debris.
A geological survey would have to be undertaken to determine the stability of the rock and decide what action was required, Dr Gauci said.
The quarry side collapsed last Sunday at around 1.30 p.m. and police informed the school head soon after.
The next day officials from the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools and an architect visited the school to assess the situation.
A spokesman for the Education Ministry said the playground was not being used and all doors leading to it had been shut since Monday. A wire fence barring access to the playground was also erected.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com