Residents and motorists could only look on in disbelief on Saturday morning as a large building was torn down in a busy area of Buġibba.

The demolition near Empire Cinema in Pioneer Road turned the largely tourist area in a "war zone", according to residents.

"There was no warden in sight, no water jets to contain the dust," one reader said.

Residents in different areas in Malta have been lamenting with Times of Malta about the indiscriminate and careless ways a lot of buildings were being torn down to make way for new blocks.

The Malta Developers Association had said contractors nowadays had all the means necessary to minimise and limit inconvenience to the general public when they conducted works.