The balcony of the Barracuda Restaurant along the St Julian's promenade collapsed Monday evening, injuring eight foreigners. One of them is in critical condition and another has been seriously injured, the police said.
Health Minister Chris Fearne initially said on Monday that seven people had been injured, with one undergoing emergency surgery at Mater Dei Hospital. All those injured were foreigners, the minister said later in a second tweet correcting the number of injured from seven to eight. He added that the first response officers dealt with 40 people on the site of the accident.
The police, in a statement on Monday evening, said that eight people had been injured, and the extent of their injuries was at the time unknown.
In another statement giving more details on Tuesday morning, the police said the eight people injured were all French, with a 46-year-old woman in critical condition while a 46 year-old man suffered grievous injuries.
The balcony collapsed as customers were having dinner. It collapsed onto another restaurant which is below it, the Piccolo Padre. Both restaurants have balconies overlooking Balluta Bay in St Julian's. Eyewitnesses said that those who fell were part of a sizeable group of French people who seemed to be celebrating before the tragic collapse took place.
At the time of the accident, it was just bordering on dusk and as darkness began to set in, the CPD brought out floodlights to help them assist the injured people.
The balcony is used to seat restaurant customers, and there were several of them at the time the accident happened at around 8pm, a popular time for a restaurant close to the sea in the warmer months. When the terrace collapsed, the sound carried over the bay, sounding like a clap of thunder in the Spinola area, eyewitnesses said. A large crowd immediately gathered, as people tried to see what had gone on.
The police said that district officers and members of the Rapid Intervention Unit were on site within minutes. The CPD and the AFM arrived with fire engines, the fast response Melita vessel and a fast RHIB. It was immediately apparent that someone was hurt as a stretcher was sent to shore, just under the balcony, on the rocks below the restaurant, eyewitnesses said.
It was a surreal situation as a woman in a green tee-shirt, made her way to another woman who was screaming in pain on the rocks. The woman suffered injuries to the hip. She was lifted onto a boat which then took her to a waiting ambulance and later to hospital. The woman fell from the balcony directly onto the rocks underneath, eyewitnesses said.
The emergency services pulled out all the stops as ambulances, fire engines and police turned up to deal with the situation. While the situation was fairly calm and ordered, it must be noted that the selfie culture has well and truly taken over as person after person documented the aftermath of the accident as it unfolded.
(Photos Dunstan Crockford, Facebook)
Slowly but surely, the situation was assessed and it was not as bad as originally feared. At one point, it was thought that five people had been seriously hurt and that another 20 were injured: CPD officials were heard radioing the information to their control room, resulting in a safety first approach with ambulances flying in from all directions. A later, separate radio conversation established that the toll had been reduced drastically. The police also had a challenging task in dealing with the crowd, which was sizeable to say the least.
(The Barracuda Restaurant balcony as it was before it collapsed. The two columns supporting the balcony are not seen in the pictures after the balcony's collapse)
A magisterial inquiry is under way. It is led by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale who is on site together with court experts including architect Robert Musumeci.
The police are investigating.
