A fuller picture has emerged of the chronic overcrowding and understaffing of the Ħal Far open centre that was the scene of a violent riot on Sunday night.

Sources within the country’s migration management bodies told Times of Malta that the facility had been at maximum capacity, housing some 1,300 migrant residents for several months, adding it was “a ticking time bomb”.

Staff numbers at the facility run by the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers have also been described as lacking.

The sources said that, at any given time, there were 10 security guards at the centre, less than one for every 100 residents.

There were also five support workers at all times but they were struggling to keep up with the demands of the residents.

“This has been a long time coming, to be honest,” a source said.

“The open centre is hosting hundreds of migrants, from different countries and with different backgrounds, in cramped and poor conditions. Tensions are naturally high. Add to that a couple of hotheads and it is easy to see how the situation escalated.”

One of the worst riots in recent years broke out at the Ħal Far facility on Sunday night after three allegedly drunk residents tried to enter the facility. A female support worker was injured and cars and administration offices were set on fire.

Eighty migrants were charged in court on Tuesday.

The sources said the facility, which offers asylum seekers free food and a place to sleep until they get on their feet, was crammed after a record year for migrant arrivals.

“Ħal Far is currently the only large open centre on the island. At the start of the migrant arrivals (in the early 2000s) we used to have a number of other centres to avoid a concentration in one site. However, these were all closed over the years and have not been reopened,” a source said.

Tensions are naturally high. Add to that a couple of hotheads and it is easy to see how the situation escalated

He added that the government had been aware of concerns that the Ħal Far centre was overcrowded in recent months but had not moved to open any other sites for fear it would not go down well with voters.

One source who was present during the riots late on Sunday said that the staff at the facility feared for their lives when a group of unruly migrants started lighting fires and banging on the doors shouting and jeering at them.

Others said that the group involved in the violence was likely to include “troublemakers” who had been involved in similar – albeit smaller – outbursts in recent months.

A staff member who had re-entered the facility on Monday after it was abandoned by staff on Sunday night said that some migrant residents had rushed to protect him from the rioters.

“There were some [migrants] who helped us and even got hurt doing so,” one source remarked.

Meanwhile, other residents had gathered in front of the gate leading to the women’s wing to protect them from the rioters, the sources added.

The morning after the riot, dozens of migrant residents who were not involved in the fracas had packed what little belongings they owned and left to sleep on the streets for fear of being rounded up by the police who were assembling to raid the premises.

“I saw them [migrants] leaving and crying because they did not want to go. They did not know where to go but were scared they would be punished for something they did not do,” one staff member at the facility said.