The three-year-old boy who wandered out of a State summer school on Monday was found crying and alone in the middle of a busy arterial road, according to the man who plucked him out of harm’s way.

Bernard Sammut, a sales representative who was on his way to a nearby supermarket, told Times of Malta he had spotted the “terrified” boy running through Hompesch Road in Fgura as cars tried to dodge him.

The child was seen calling out for his mother as traffic whizzed past him at around 10.30am.

“He is really lucky to be alive. Honestly, that road is extremely busy and dangerous to navigate from a pedestrian crossing, never mind if you’re a frightened three-year-old. I was shocked,” Mr Sammut said.

The young child had walked out of a Skolasajf classroom at the Fgura primary school completely unnoticed by staff. The Education Ministry has since said the boy was on his way to use the bathroom but had somehow managed to leave the school grounds.

GATES STILL OPEN YESTERDAY

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has initiated an internal inquiry to understand why the child was unaccompanied and why the gates had been left open.

Despite this, the main gates of the Fgura school were found wide open yesterday and Times of Malta was able to enter the grounds, even though the ministry said it had taken measures to ensure the gates remained closed.

Asked about this a spokesman for the Foundation for Educational Services, which is responsible for the State summer school programme, said they were only open because the students were out on a field trip.

Once the students returned the gates were locked and parents made to stand outside. However, construction works on another wing of the school, a few metres from the main gate, meant a secondary access door was left open for the entire day.

Parents said this door had been left open for a number of days and some questioned whether this was where the child had exited from.