Experts have described the clay slopes overlooking the beach known as il-Qarraba as very unstable, after a mini-landslide occurred there a few days ago.

Fortunately, no one was sunbathing at the spot, near Ġnejna Bay, when the clay came down.

Geologist Peter Gatt described it as a "mass movement" of clay. He said that the Blue Clay outcrops were being eroded rapidly by sea action, resulting in gullies and what now looked like a "shallow slip" along the top part of the slope. 

"Although clay is cohesive, the high angle of the slope (over 45 degrees) makes these slopes very unstable," he said.

The area is not easy to reach but affords a spectacular view of the sunset and a relatively secluded area for bathing.

Fortunately, no one was sunbathing there when the clay came down.

A geotechnical engineer, Perit Adrian Mifsud, said the slope was inevitably going to keep on crumbling as the absorption of water from below made it more porous and unstable.

He cautioned against walking on top of the slope and definitely not beyond any cracks that might be detected in the clay surface. Attempting to slide down the slope, as some people do, should be out of the question, he added.

A wider view of the area in Ġnejna where a mini-landslide left a clay slope unstable. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Meanwhile, Times of Malta has asked Transport Malta if it plans to erect any signs warning people of danger, as had been done with the Dwejra Window before it collapsed, but no replies have yet been received.   

The whole ridge has been unstable for years.

Recently a boathouse at the foot of the ridge in Ġnejna Bay was destroyed in another rock-clay fall. No one was injured. 

Ten years ago, Carol Ellul wrote in Times of Malta how a relative was killed by falling rocks in Gnejna Bay, about half a mile away, 39 years previously.

"Thirty-nine years ago I saw my cousin die at Ġnejna Bay on his 12th birthday. We went for a day at the beach, a piece of hanging cliff fell on top of him and on my brother. My brother survived by a miracle. But Gino Portelli died on the way to hospital, I have never forgotten that day, it will stay with me for the rest of my life," she recalled. 

Another eyewitness later wrote that part of the ridge gave way under the weight of an Austin Utility van which was parked there and killed the boy. 

Ms Ellul subsequently campaigned against a repeat in other areas of unstable rocks.

And in another incident, on September 5, 1980, a substantial part of another nearby cliff face, this time facing Golden Bay, collapsed, 'bombarding' a paddleboat with rocks. Three people were injured but no one was killed.