A car crash with an ambulance in Xemxija in the early hours of Saturday morning has claimed its second victim, an 89-year-old woman from Mellieha.

The first victim, an Englishman, died on impact while riding in the front passenger seat of the car.

The accident happened on Selmun Hill on 12 August at around 1.20am and involved an ambulance driven by a 55-year-old Italian paramedic living in Mosta and a Daihatsu Sirion driven by an Englishman. 

The Daihatsu Sirion was carrying three passengers, all English. The man riding in the car's passenger seat was killed in the crash, police said, while the driver is in hospital with grievous injuries.

People riding in the ambulance were also hurt in the crash. Among them is a 51-year-old Mġarr woman who was grievously injured and a 38-year-old St Paul's Bay woman who suffered slight injuries. 

A woman, 89, and a man, 43, both from Mellieħa, were also grievously injured.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras is conducting an inquiry. Police investigations are ongoing. 

In a statement issued via the Department of Information, Mater Dei Hospital had said that the Red Cross ambulance involved in the crash was transporting a patient. From time to time, Mater Dei uses Red Cross ambulances for the transportation of patients, it said.

The ambulance, apart from paramedics and the patient, also had the patient's daughter as a passenger.

Mater Dei Hospital said that five ambulances and two rapid response units were deployed to the scene.