A group of pedestrians was injured when a young driver lost control of his car and mounted a pavement in St Julian’s yesterday. Photos: Chris Sant Fournier

The driver of a car which injured eight people on Friday morning, one critically, was allegedly more than three times over the legal alcohol limit, the Times of Malta has learnt.

Sources close to the investigation said that the 20-year-old Birkirkara youth had failed the breathalyser test carried out soon after the 5am incident. He was taken the hospital to be treated for the injuries he sustained when the Subaru Impreza he was driving veered out of control and rammed into people walking on the St Julian’s promenade.

The accident happened in Ġorġ Borg Olivier Street at 4.50am between the City of London Bar and the St Julian’s waterpolo club.

A total of nine people, including the driver, were hospitalised. The man fighting for his life is a 25-year-old Dutchman. The other victims include a 25-year-old Englishman, who was seriously injured, three Dutchmen and a British man, who were slightly injured, while two Croatian women escaped without injuries.

The police said the Subaru’s driver lost control of the car before mounting the pavement and crashing into the pedestrians.

On impact, a bench and a light pole were destroyed. The car also ploughed into two trees, uprooting them. The promenade was also extensively damaged.

Sources said that the driver left the scene but was arrested soon after, where he was subjected to a breathalyser test.

The accident scene, cordoned off by police tape and with marks left on the road.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale is conducting an inquiry. He appointed a number of court experts to assist him with the inquiry.

One of the first people to give the victims first aid until the ambulances arrived at the scene was Brazilian national Maria Escalda, a DJ who said on Facebook she was up working on her music at the time of the crash. She said the critically injured man had been unconscious and unresponsive. Paramedics managed to revive him after using a defibrillator.  

“At first we thought that the man was dead, he was not moving. We kept going on and on, trying harder,” the woman said in her post.

“He had a lot of head injuries. He was covered in blood. I don’t know how I managed to do this, because I was never in a situation like this before. I just wanted to save his life, to do something. I hope he is OK.

“Even though the ambulance did not take long to arrive, it felt like an eternity. At that point, every second is precious,” Ms Escalda added.