Updated | Air conditioning panel in Arriva bus narrowly misses passenger

One of the air-conditioning panels on an Arriva bus yesterday came loose and fell off during a bus journey, narrowly missing a passenger.

A passenger, who has declined to have her name published, informed Malta Today that the incident happened on the X1 route from Cirkewwa yesterday, at about 1 pm.

According to the passenger, the panel fell onto a seat which was only empty because the man occupying it had got up to take a photo.

"I don't want to think about what may have happened if he had been seated," she said.

She emphasized that the bus driver was especially caring and made sure all his passengers were okay before asking for another bus to be sent and doing his best to ensure his passengers reached their destinations within a decent amount of time.

However, she said, it was clear that several other panels were also loose, and voiced her concern about the safety precautions being taken by the company to ensure these sorts of incidents did not occur.

"Do they even test and make sure their buses are in a decent condition?" she asked.

Arriva's response

A spokesperson for Arriva has claimed that following the report of the incident from personnel, Arriva made contact with the passenger involved and confirmed they were unharmed.

"We have offered our customer our complete assistance, which was accepted gladly and are carrying out a full investigation into the cause to prevent a reoccurrence," Arriva said.