Offices and residences in Canon Road, Sta Venera, suffered power cuts and had their telephone and/or internet services disconnected after a refuse truck's mechanical arm got caught in overhead cables and severed them yesterday.

The truck, used to collect waste from bring-in sites, was being driven to a garage for repairs after its arm developed problems earlier in the morning. Since it could not be lowered, the arm got entangled in the cables as it drove from one side of the road to another at about 8.15 a.m.

Wasteserv, which owns the truck, said, fortunately, such accidents were rare and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

However, the accident and the apology did not go down well with residents and workers in the road, some of whom even vented their anger on the police.

Writing on timesofmalta.com, they said police officers arrived more than an hour late and only after they had been picked up from the station by electricians sent to repair the cables.

While confirming the delay, the police said they were occupied with a more pressing emergency, which involved the life of an individual. The police said the officers deployed to the scene of the accident had to be picked up from the station because there were no cars available at the time.

Furthermore, the police insisted they were on the spot about half an hour after the accident was reported and not an hour as residents had complained.

Civil Protection Department personnel were called in to spread sand on some hydraulic fluid that had leaked from the truck and, according to residents, caused three minor traffic accidents.

kbugeja@timesofmalta.com