The collapse of a wall in Cospicua, which killed a worker and left another seriously injured was the fifth serious construction collapse in Malta in just 18 months. 

Of this spate of incidents, the most recent also led to death and comes despite a raft of measures created and designed to protect people from dangerous excavation works.

Construction site incidents involving damages to third-party properties fall under the remit of the Building and Construction Agency, which was set up in 2019 following a spate of collapses.

Times of Malta looks back on a timeline of construction collapse.

Cospicua, July 23, 2020

On Thursday a worker died and another was left seriously injured when a boundary wall collapsed on the in Cospicua.

Excavation work was being carried out at the time on the site in Sqaq l-Erwieħ , which previously housed a building due to be demolished to make way for a guest house. 

A magisterial inquiry has been launched.

The site at Sqaq l-Erwieħ in Cospicua where a man was killed in a boundary wall collapse. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Ħamrun, March 2, 2020

The most recent collapse was in Ħamrun in March, when mother-of-two Miriam Pace died after her house collapsed next to a construction site. 

Her husband Carmelo Pace described how his wife and been highly anxious and afraid during the ongoing building works.

A hydraulic excavator had been ripping away at hard stone the neighbouring construction site minutes before the incident, a court has heard.

Four people, including the project's architect and site manager, have been charged with involuntary homicide. 

Miriam Pace was buried alive in the rubble after her home collapsed next to a building site. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Msida, October 12, 2019 

A single day in October saw two separate collapses.

Part of a ceiling above Duke's snack bar in Msida caved in on the Saturday afternoon, sending debris crashing to the ground, but luckily hurting nobody.

The building overlying the popular bar on Triq Bordin was a construction site, with workers building a block of apartments. 

Duke's Snack Bar has been closed since the incident in 2019. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

St Paul's Bay, October 12, 2019

It happened an hour after part of the wall of a backyard collapsed in St Paul's Bay, narrowly missing a woman who was hanging the washing there.

This house was also adjacent to a construction site. 

Ħamrun, June 13, 2019 

In this incident families living in a block of apartments Mimosa Street, Ħamrun, were left without a roof over their heads as a section of their property wall crumbled into a construction site. 

Resident Janet Walker, 44, said she had filed multiple reports about the dangers of the construction next door. Luckily, the 16 people in the building escaped injury. 

Following this collapse, the government suspended all excavation and demolition works and rushed through new laws intended to ensure higher standards and better safeguards. Three people have been charged with causing involuntary damage to the apartment block. 

Mellieħa, June 8, 2019 

Just five days before, 77-year-old Maggie Smith had to be rescued from her Mellieħa home as a four-storey block crumbled down on Main Street. She died two months later.

A neighbouring property was under construction at the time. 

There were just two flats in the block, which were built some 20 years ago. One of the flats was a duplex. 

Gwardamanġa, April 23, 2019

Last year, several families living in a three-storey block in Gwardamanġa fled their homes after the building came crashing down at around 10.40pm. 

The apartments were located next to a construction site, where work had been stopping and starting since 2017. 

Residents had reportedly filed a police report prior to the collapse after noticing damage being caused to their home as a result of the works.