Man critical after falling off float
Dense crowds of drunken revellers
A 20-year-old man was in critical condition yesterday after falling off a float during the carnival celebrations in Nadur on Sunday night.
The police said Jason Vella was on the float with friends when he fell a height of about one storey and sustained grievous injuries to his head.
Yesterday, a tourist who fell off the old Opera House ruins during carnival celebrations in Valletta was only slightly injured.
In a comment posted on timesofmalta.com, Randolph Peresso, who happened to see the float the young man was on, said it represented an oil rig and was ironically decorated with safety hats. He said the float was made out of plastic pipes and it seemed obvious to him that it could never hold a person climbing up to the top.
Sources said the young man was climbing a rope when he fell off.
He was immediately assisted by police supervising the celebrations and taken to Gozo's General Hospital in a Red Cross ambulance that was standing by. He was flown to Mater Dei Hospital shortly afterwards.
Eyewitnesses said the celebrations were wild on Sunday in Nadur, with floats passing through dense crowds of drunken revellers.
The woman who fell at the Opera House yesterday was a 55-year-old Englishwoman. She was sitting watching the carnival celebrations in Freedom Square.
She was immediately assisted by police nearby and taken to hospital in a standby ambulance.