A maintenance worker has died after the ceiling of a public toilet in Dwejra, Gozo, collapsed on him as he carried out maintenance works on Thursday morning.

Rescuers from the Civil Protection Department and an ambulance crew rushed to the scene but were unable to save the 52-year-old from Xewkija.

A magisterial inquiry is under way. 

The incident at the popular tourist destination happened at around 9.30am. It was raining at the time.

Emanuel Psaila, director-general of the CPD said rescuers were called to the scene. 

"We received a call about the roof of a public toilet collapsing, so we dispatched a team on site to have a look at the latrine in which maintenance works were being carried out," he told Times of Malta.

"We saw that a person was buried beneath the roof's rubble and were working on extracting him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the worker, who was trapped under the rubble died before we could manage to extract him."

A man died after a roof collapsed on him as he carried out work on a public toilet in Gozo. Photo: Malta Police

The site is a few hundred metres away from the site of the Azure Window, which collapsed just over four years ago.

It was the second such incident on Thursday morning. In Sliema, an elderly couple were seriously injured when the roof of their house collapsed.