Residents in a hotel in Sliema were yesterday briefly evacuated after some of them reported they were feeling sick due to what they believed was a toxic hazard which probably was nothing more than a prank.

The police said that at around 8.10pm, some students residing in The Galaxy Hotel – the part of the complex that has not been demolished – reported that they were feeling a burning sensation in their eyes and throat and were finding it difficult to breathe. The hotel personnel immediately asked all residents to leave the building and called the police.

Members from the Police Force, the Civil Protection Department, two ambulances from St Luke's Hospital, two doctors from the Emergency Response Team and members of the Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) Unit were immediately dispatched to the location.

Six students were treated on site but none of the residents was admitted to hospital.

The police said that after the Hazmat officials inspected the building, it was ascertained that the problem was mostly evident on the third and fourth floors.

The police were still to ascertain the cause of the alarm and are leaving all options open. However, sources said it is likely that it was a prank engineered by one or more students, with one Italian resident telling The Malta Independent that he believed that it was some sort of “gas” leaked by some students to create what he called “some panic”.

Around 150 foreign students and three foreign families were in the residence at the time of the incident but were expected to return to their quarters once the police investigation was over.