The girlfriend of 17-year-old Matthew Bartolo, who died following an accident at work on Thursday afternoon, was planning to surprise him that evening with a romantic visit to the place where they first met.
“My plan was that after work he would go to help with the feast preparations until 7.30pm. Then he’d come to my house in Gudja and I’d take him on the lawn at the airport where we met,” Marija Micallef, 16, recounted.
“So, on Thursday morning, I sent him a message telling him to change his shorts after working for the feast...
“During my work break, at about 1pm, I checked my phone and saw a message from him saying: ‘Why, dear?’ I messaged back: ‘Are you coming to my house?’” He never replied.
Later she found out that the accident had happened at about 12.30pm. She realised that she must have received his message late since her phone was in a place with bad reception and he must have sent it before the accident.
Mr Bartolo died on Thursday afternoon following an accident that occurred while he was operating a woodworking machine at the Construct Furniture factory in Ħal Farruġ, limits of Luqa. A magisterial inquiry is being conducted with the collaboration of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.
Times of Malta tried contacting Construct Furniture on Thursday and again yesterday and was told there was no one available to answer media questions.
While we were walking he told me: ‘Only death will part us’
St Joseph Band club president Noel Cutajar last spoke to Mr Bartolo on Wednesday morning in the car, as they worked together at the furniture factory.
Overcome with emotion, Mr Cutajar said he preferred not to talk about what happened, adding that it was a very difficult time.
He spoke, however, about Mr Bartolo’s passion for the feast and his involvement in the St Joseph band club’s youth section. He was looking to obtaining his fireworks licence – something his girlfriend was not too keen on.
She told this newspaper: “I told him countless times: ‘Don’t get the fireworks licences because I’ll lose you’. He would tell me: ‘My time will come whenever God wants’. And he was right.”
The couple met through Facebook and on May 23 last year they had their first date at the airport.
Ms Micallef last met him on Wednesday, when she went to his house after work. They had an argument and as they were discussing it Mr Bartolo burst into tears and told her how much he loved her.
After supper he had to go to the band club and she walked with him. “While we were walking he told me: ‘Only death will part us’,” she said, adding she now attached a different meaning to those words.
The following morning, on Thursday, they messaged each other. “I told him no one would take his place,” she said.
That afternoon his father called her and informed her there had been an accident. Her father took her to hospital.
“I realised what had happened... They let me go next to him, even though he could not hug me... I don’t want any of his friends to forget him. He was such an amazing person. We cannot forget him,” she said.
The funeral will take place at the Kirkop parish church on Monday at 3.30pm. The family are asking people to wear white or blue.
“He loved those colours of the feast. He used to tell me to paint my nails blue during the feast,” Ms Micallef said.