A bystander, present when the wall collapsed, said he saw a silver Daewoo swerve dangerously from the inner to the outer lane in order to avoid the falling stones. The stones fell in the car’s path, the witness said, and were only missed by a couple of metres. The car was seen stopping a few metres up the road and then drive off again. “I don’t know what he was doing, probably catching his breath or saying that Hail Mary,” he said.

The wall on Cannon Road, which overlooks the Santa Venera by-pass, gave way after a truck crashed into it, toppling the stones onto the road four storeys beneath. The driver of the truck hit the breaks and skidded on the slippery surface, crashing into the wall.

Luckily, the truck stopped short of plunging down but one wheel slightly overshot the boundary and was hanging in space, an excited 26-year-old driver explained. The truck itself only sustained light damages and was reversed back to safety as soon as the Civil Protection Department officials reached the scene.

The police and wardens were called to manage the traffic until the area was cleared. Cars were diverted onto the north bound tunnel as soon as they came out of those heading towards Marsa, while CPD officers pushed down stones that remained dangling dangerously.

Inevitably the diversion created a huge traffic jam that started at the tunnels beneath the Msida roundabout. Shortly after, the road was opened as the officers managed the rush-hour traffic through the single outer lane. Everything reverted back to normal at around 10am.