Luca Brincat, 19, has told The Malta Independent about the terrible minutes of horror he and his girlfriend experienced as a stampede towards the exit of the PlusOne night club resulted in a glass guard rail shattering, causing a mass of people to tumble onto each other and onto shards of glass.

Seven of the 74 injured are still in hospital, the government said yesterday. One of them, a 13-year-old girl, is still in intensive care while the condition of a 15-year-old girl who was described as being critical has improved and she was moved to a general ward.

“At around 1am I was in the VIP area of PlusOne club celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday together with friends and family,” Luca said. “At one point a friend of ours came and told us to leave the place as apparently some kind of gas had been used during a fight and people were feeling breathless. After a while, I smelled the gas so I told my girlfriend and everyone who was with us to leave that place immediately.

“As soon as we approached the glass staircase we saw a lot of people pushing each other in an attempt to leave the club. There was a lot of pushing and as people seemed unable to move, and the panic started to grow.

“At one point the top part of the staircase collapsed, and the noise was tremendous. When we fell down we ended up on top of the Steam gentlemen’s club staircase, which also broke with the impact. We tried to get up but many people were on top of each other. A piece of broken glass slashed one of my ankles. I saw lots of blood coming out and afterwards doctors told me later that the reason was that an artery had been hit.

“I remember being in a lot of pain and when I managed to get out I limped to where my brother and his friend were. As soon as they saw me in that state they took off my shirt and wrapped my ankle with it to stop the blood flow.”

When asked if his girlfriend had suffered any injuries, Luca said that she was unconscious for a short period of time and she needed eight stitches to her leg. “When I arrived at hospital I had to undergo a minor operation and ended up with 30 stitches on my ankle.”

Luca described the atmosphere in Paceville at the time of the incident as similar to what he saw on Friday night in Paris on TV. “People were screaming, many were injured, blood covering their bodies, ambulances and paramedics.  I felt my life ending.  This is one episode in my life which I will never forget.”

“I need a massive break from Paceville and for now I have no intension to go back there.”