Updated 12.20pm with neighbours' reactions. 

A 74-year-old woman died in a blaze at her home in Rabat early on Thursday, the police said.

The fire broke out at about 5.45am in a residence in narrow St Patrick Street in the area known as Hal-Bajjada.

Firefighters put out the blaze and found the woman unconscious. She died on the scene.

Neighbours identified the woman as Joan Gauci, who lived on her own in a groundfloor tenement. She was recovering from a recent hip replacement after a bad fall and had limited mobility. She used a walker to assist her. 

Mark D’Amato, who lives next door, said that the residents of the neighbouring apartment blocks all pitched in when they could to assist Joan with small errands and maintenance in her home.

“I’m very sorry about what happened to her, she was alone and we always tried to do what we could to help,” D’Amato said.

“The smell of smoke woke me up and I went to check around the house. Eventually I looked down the internal shaft that connected our apartments and the smoke and soot was creeping up the walls and I saw the flicker of flames.” 

“When I realized it was coming from Joan’s house we called the police and fire services. We tried to break down her door but the place was engulfed in smoke. There was nothing we could do but wait.” 

D’Amato said that the fire likely left significant structural damage to the adjacent blocks as residents had found their windows shattered and drain pipes melted after the fire was put out.

A magisterial inquiry is under way. 

Photo Mark Zammit Cordina.