The government and two foreign companies were found equally to blame for the damage caused in an intense fire which destroyed part of the Mediterranean Conference Centre in 1987, with costs divided equally, the companies being ordered to pay €3.365 million.

The fierce blaze occurred on 25 March, 1987, during an activity in the care of the two companies, Laser Point and Daihatsu. Damage costing €6.730 million was caused.

Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi decided the case in the first hall of the civil court, where it was instituted by the Prime Minister, the Tourism Minister, the Acting Commissioner of Land, and MCC management committee chairman Albert Agius Ferrante against the two companies.

Daihatsu was holding a conference at the MCC and had leased a laser from Laser Point Ltd. Mr Justice Azzopardi found that the cause of the fire was the laser being directed for a long time at one spot.

But the court experts who conducted the inquiry found that the damage was extensive because there were no means to control the fire. The equipment available for fire control was not adequate and neither were there staff who were trained in fire fighting.

The safety curtain would certainly have segregated the stage from the rest of the building. Fire fighting equipment was meagre, Mr Justice Azzopardi found. It was not enough to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading until the fire engines arrived.

It was evident that though the fierce blaze was caused by the companies, there was a considerable contributing element to the damage spread.