Updated 3.30pm
Work to remove a tree protruding onto traffic on a major thoroughfare in Lija got underway on Wednesday afternoon, after a Facebook video highlighting concerns about it went viral on Tuesday.
Protective barriers appeared overnight, after the Civil Protection Department was instructed to take action to remove the danger.
A CPD spokesman initially told Times of Malta that they had installed the barriers as a temporary measure, though the department later clarified that this was a miscommunication and that the barriers were installed by another entity - they could not say which.
"We do not even own any such barriers, and we don't know who is responsible for them," a spokesman said.
"Our priority is removing any potential danger," another CPD spokesman told Times of Malta. "We would have carried out the [removal] work on Tuesday night, but unfortunately the crane needed to reach the tree bough ran into mechanical trouble," he added.
Early on Wednesday afternoon, CPD members reappeared at the scene and began working to cut down the overhanging tree.
The CPD spokesman said the private property owners whose tree it was had been very cooperative and that work to remove the danger was proceeding at a brisk pace.
Photo: Jonathan BorgWATCH: 'Look at how dangerous it is... it should be pulled down, pronto'
The Lija tree was brought to authorities' attention on Tuesday afternoon, after a video calling for the tree to be "pulled down, pronto" spread like wildfire across Maltese Facebook feeds on Tuesday.
The tree's scarred trunk suggested it had already been hit by a high vehicle in the past - prompting comparisons with the tree that led to a double-decker tourist bus tragedy in Żurrieq on Monday, in which two people were killed and 50 more injured.
Photo: Elisa Lemarchand
Photo: Elisa Lemarchand
Photo: Jonathan Borg
CPD official installed protective barriers overnight. Photo: Jonathan Borg