Terrified residents of a street in Sliema have described the moment the cables of a crane snapped, sending heavy chains and a lifting hook hurtling to the ground below.

The incident happened in Don Rua street at around 9.30am on Thursday morning. No-one was injured. 

“It was a frightening noise, I was scared to look because I thought I might see someone crushed under debris,” resident Chris Micallef, who lives next to the construction site where the crane was located, told Times of Malta.

The chain that fell after the hook. Photo: Karen Heneghan‎ via Sliema Residents on Facebook

“My wife and I work from home, it’s a bit unsettling how much of a near miss this could have been. It could have landed on our home, on the parked cars or even someone just walking by,” he said. 

Witnesses heard a loud crash followed by an even louder noise. Micallef said that luckily the lifting hook and chain landed close to a large flatbed truck that was being used by contractors working on the same site. 

These were loaded off and taken away shortly after. He said residents needed safety assurances.

“I feel like we need a little more assurance on the safety of these machines dangling right above us. We need to be safe in our own homes,” he said. 

In a Facebook post, the Sliema local council said that the incident was “totally unacceptable” and had been reported to the Building and Construction Agency.

“We have spoken to the owner of the site to verify that everything is being done under the health and safety directives. We regret this incident and luckily nobody was hurt,” the post read. 

“It is imperative that the general public sends such reports immediately to the BCA so that action may be taken straight away.”

A police spokesperson said that no reports were received in relation to the incident. 

The incident happened just a day after the National Audit Office warned that minor construction projects were causing a serious hazard because they are going under the radar of the safety watchdog.