Lucky escape
Nuns and workmen unhurt as tower crane falls on convent
Two nuns, a handyman and a workman escaped unhurt yesterday morning when a tower crane toppled over onto the Dominican convent in Safi.
Clearly in shock, a nun said two fellow nuns were cooking when the tower crane came crashing down on top of the hallway leading to the kitchen of the convent, which is situated in Salvu Gauci Street.
Trembling, she said a workman who was painting the hallway at the time had luckily moved out of the way shortly before the ceiling gave way and rubble came raining down, just metres from where he was standing.
The tower crane's operator, seated at the top of its long support structure, just under its rotating arm, was unhurt.
The tower crane had been erected over a construction site situated behind the convent, where a local contractor is in the early stages of building a block of apartments.
The nun said she had just walked out of the convent's chapel when she heard a loud noise which some other nuns thought was a gunshot.
They ran in the direction of the noise and found the two nuns and the workman walking out of a cloud of dust, which they first thought was a fire.
"It's a miracle that no one was hurt," she said.
The police said no one was hurt and they were not informed that anyone was taken to hospital.
However, two ceilings have given in because of the weight of the crane and the falling rubble and that part of the convent has been closed off to the nuns because it is dangerous.
The police are investigating the accident, with the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.