
Saturday, 4th October 2008 - 23:39CET
UPDATED: Teenager dies after fall
A 16-year-old boy from San Ġwann has died after he fell from a bastion in Herbert Ganado Garden, Valletta this evening.
The police said the teenager was sitting on the bastion and slipped when he stood up, falling a height of about five storeys.
Members of the Civil Protection were called for assistance. The teenager was given first aid on the spot and then taken to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance, where he died despite intensive efforts to save him.




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This way of looking at things sounds very much like poor consolation for any human being who has experienced the death of someone close. Why do we feel the need to direct people about how they should feel?
Bad luck caused this accident as this poor fella's feet slipped and he fell 5 storeys down. Because of such incidents we cannot pretend to turn our mighty bastions into cages. As stated below if you decide to sit or stand dangerously near the brink of a cliff or a bastion and fall then the responsibility of your actions is yours and yours alone. Unluckily when we are young the spirit of adventure makes us do dangerous things.
I want to point out that I do not believe in closing the bastions to public. I used to go a lot to Mdina and sit there on the bastions but I did this carefully and so did all my friends and no accidents ever happened. Everyone is responsible for his/her actions and yes sadly accidents do happen. But if we were to close the bastions shouldn't we do the same for all the roofs being houses, churches, feast clubs etc, all the cliffs higher than 2 stories around Malta and Gozo and so on.
May God be with his soul and with his family at this tragic moment.
@ Denis Bartolo
It appears that some people do not have grip on what real Health & Safety is all about. Also do not know that the O in OHSA means occupational as in work related. This accident is not work related and definitely cannot be compared to construction sites and attributed to OHSA.
There are also some myths going around such as H&S is about completely eleminating all risks in life including in play. Browsing in the UK H&S websites such as HSE & IOSH will help you understand better.
So please, do think of the trauma his friends who were with him, are going through. I would not want any of my children to witness such a thing happening to a friend in front of their eyes.
@ Denis Bartolo ,i find your comments very irritating and shameful ,pointing a finger
at the authorities. We are responsible for our actions.
R.I.P BRIAN
i will miss you !!!!!
FROM BEST FRIEND NIGEL
yest i talked to him . his last words to me were best friends :'(
i saw brian after he fell and I will never will forget the scene
R.I.P BRIAN
i will miss you
It surely is a gross case of negligence from the Health and Safety department as nothing was done before or after the tragic loss of a young lady 2 years ago.
Take it political take it whatever way you wish, the tragedy this young mans loss of life has brought to his family and friends could have been avoided.
So many items, objects, buildings and other which cause a plain health and safety hazard are in abundance.
Theses are also found in new contructions which have been meant to be monitored and approved by Mepa.
What is just right now is to sue the goverment department concered for gross negligence, having taken no deterrent steps at such sites after a similar accident 2 years ago.
Seems the cheap cost of doing something superceeds the element of safety!!!!!!...
Whoever is responsible let this tragic accident repeat itself.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED
Trust they all sleep well .
At whatever age we may be, we ought all to put aside silly pride and take heed of timely health and safety warnings that well meaning friends (and even complete strangers) sometimes point out to us.
I also recall reading about a youth falling to death from cliffs/rocks (somewhere around Mellieha a few years ago) while fooling around with friends.
Please people! Never shy away from pointing out risky behaviour to others, even if you fear you might be thought a right "know-it-all", busybody, nerd, wet blanket or whatever disparaging noun or description is now trendy among snobs and conceited individuals when the latter feel a perverse need to put down a civil minded individual.
Authorities ought to do their part to educate, legislate and put up safety barriers as the case may be. Yes, we could do with a “nanny state” where several aspects are concerned. But at the end of the day authoritarian officials cannot be everywhere all the time. Civil minded individuals - may we all thus become – could eliminate many dangerous situations if only they would stop being too humble, shy and timid to speak up at the right time.
Arguing about a loss like this never helped anyone get any better.
If you weren't there during the accident than don't speak cause you will repent for the damage.
The child was well taught !! and the family was always there!! they are such great parents.... it's a pity. Don't make their pain bigger!!
MAY GOD BE WITH YOU!!
It should be reasonable to make sitting, standing or lying on these structures an offense punishable by law and subject to a fine. Signs erected at the appropriate places would help to remind people that they need to treat these structures with a great deal of respect both for their own safety and for the safety of others.
I have never used these bastions as a sitting or a dancing place because the idea of losing balance and falling down always scared me to death.
We are solely responsible for our own actions.
Now that the bastions are going to be restored, shouldn't some thought be given to some sort of safety enhancement? Not easy to incorporate without defacing the bastions. Perhaps even a thin steel cable running about 20cm high along the top would be helpful and unobtrusive.
We have lost these unfortunate people, let us not lose the lesson as well.
It takes nothing to lose your balance on a bastion. I have seen people drinking alcohol and trying to play the hero on Mdina bastions, to impress his/her friends and passers-by.
Maybe it is time to place more signs and some sort of fencing, similar to the ones placed around the lower part of the bastions, near Valletta Waterfront, to protect traffic from falling stones.
May he rest in peace and his family is consoled for this tragic loss.
It terrifies me when I see people sitting on the bastions (even in Mdina) and wish people in their group would warn them and insist they get down.
Another danger is sitting on the railings at Font Ghadir - obviously not such a height as the bastions but high enough.