A young man died and four people were hospitalised following a head-on traffic collision near Marsascala yesterday morning.

The victim was 31-year-old Charles Caruana, of Valletta, who was driving a rented Peugeot 205 towards Zejtun. He had his wife Sara and five-year-old son with him.

The accident happened at Id-Dahla ta` San Tumas Street at around 11 a.m. when the car was involved in a collision with a Mitsubishi van coming from the opposite direction. It was being driven by George Abela, 24, of Marsascala, who was with his 24-year-old girlfriend Marisa Farrugia, of Gzira.

On impact the car mounted a pavement and crashed into a rubble wall. Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

An eyewitness who was driving in the area said he heard the collision and saw a cloud of smoke and dust. The sound, he said, was so terrifying that he drove off the road into a field.

He said he was so shocked he could not get out of his car for about three minutes.

He then rushed to the scene along with a priest who was passing by at the time.

The eyewitness said he pulled the child out of the car and handed him to a passer-by who drove the boy to hospital.

The child`s father was still alive at the time but he died by the time an ambulance arrived, about 15 minutes later.

The ambulance took the driver`s wife to hospital while a second ambulance took the occupants of the van. The condition of all four is not life threatening.

Duty magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona was informed of the accident and appointed several experts, including traffic expert Joe Micallef Stafrace, to assist him in the magisterial inquiry.

The accident is being investigated by the Zabbar police.