The police are investigating at least five people in connection with an accident at a Marsa factory that cost a Somali man his life.

Sources close to the investigation said two men were arrested and interrogated over the accident while the police spoke to another three under caution, which means they are being treated as suspects.

The investigation revolves around the death of Ahmed Adawe Diriye, a 39-year-old Somali, who fell a height of one-and-a-half storeys and succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Diriye was initially reported missing by the police on Monday afternoon, who said that he had last been seen a week earlier.

However, a few hours later, the police said it had resulted that the missing person was an unidentified worker who had suffered a fall at a Marsa factory on December 22.

Times of Malta is informed that Diriye had been installing air conditioning units and solar panels at the factory at the time of the fall.

It seems that the man did not have a fixed job and is believed to have been hired specifically for the task in question.

Sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta that Diriye received medical attention at the scene of the accident. Paramedics on site administered life-saving procedures, however, he died later in hospital.

The victim had been living in Malta for some four years.

Inspectors from the Occupational Health and Safety Authority are conducting a separate investigation in connection with the accident to establish whether the proper safety protocols had been properly followed. A magisterial inquiry is also under way, led by Magistrate Leonard Caruana, and a number of experts and police officers are assisting.

According to a MaltaToday report, it was nurses at Mater Dei Hospital who identified the Somali man. The nurses had originally been referring to him as Mr X, the name given to unidentified persons and cadavers. They eventually identified him from a photo disseminated by the police.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb are representing the man’s relatives as parte civile.

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