2015: a year of avoidable accidents

Three accidents in quick succession at the tail end of the year exposed a worryingly lax attitude to safety in Malta…and a tendency for the authorities to only act in reaction to tragic incidents.

Disaster struck at the annual Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina motor-car charity show in October when a driver lost control of his Porsche supercar before crashing into the crowd, injuring 26.

As the terror of the moment died down, the spotlight turned to the safety measures, or lack thereof, that were in place to prevent such an accident.

A magisterial inquiry into the incident is still ongoing but footage clearly shows that the only barriers that separated the track from the crowd were flimsy crowd control barriers that were easily swept aside by the Porsche.

Then in November, 74 youths were injured when a glass banister at the PlusOne Paceville nightclub collapsed under their pressure as they tried to flee the building that had been smogged with pepper spray. Questions are now being asked about the lack of emergency exits at the club, with the club’s director admitting that “they weren’t working as they were supposed to” at the time.

Yet without emergency exits, the accident was simply one that was waiting to happen as soon as the reckless teenager - who has since been arrested -dumped a gas canister into the club’s ventilation system. The glass banister and staircase were clearly not strong enough to sustain the heavy flow of people towards the exit, details that could be highlighted in the conclusions of another “high-level” magisterial inquiry.

However, both accidents were overshadowed by last month’s events at the illegally built and unlicensed Montekristo Zoo – when a tiger on a leash lashed out at a three year-old boy’s face. The zoo – which has since been temporarily closed – claimed that the “docile” tiger was being walked by two handlers and was lying on the floor at the time of the incident.

The boy ran towards the tiger to play with it, prompting the animal to lash out with its claws. A week later, the government reacted by proposing tougher laws against the importation of “dangerous” animals – including tigers, lions and bears. As per the draft legal notice, only licensed zoos will be able to keep such animals…which would rule Montekristo out, if not for a clause that allows people to keep the dangerous animals they already own.