Eight people were hospitalised, one in critical condition, on Friday morning after a car mounted the pavement and rammed into them in St Julian’s.

The man who is critical is a 25-year-old Dutch. The other victims are a 25-year-old Englishman who was seriously injured, three Dutch men and a British man, who were slightly injured while two Croatian women who were certified to be injury free.

All are aged between 19 and 25.

The police said the accident happened in Ġorġ Borġ Olivier Street, at 4.50am.

The 20-year-old driver of a Subaru Impresa, from Birkirkara, lost control of the car, before mounting the pavement and crashing into the pedestrians.

Eyewitnesses said he also ploughed into two trees, uprooting them, and also destroying a lamp-post. The driver at first left the scene but once the police arrived on the scene, a search was mounted and he was arrested. 

The road, from the City of London bar to the St Julian’s waterpolo Pitch, has been closed to traffic.

An inquiry is being held.