Police and court experts investigating the fatal Ħamrun building collapse are examining tracks left behind at the scene to try to establish whether excavation machinery was used too close to the destroyed family home. 

The tragic incident on March 2 claimed the life of 54-year-old mother of two Miriam Pace, whose lifeless body was found buried under bricks and broken slabs after an hours-long search by rescuers.

Six people – all connected to the neighbouring excavation site – have been questioned by the police in connection with the case.

On Thursday, those linked to the incident were in court to testify before inquiring magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit. 

The magistrate has appointed a number of people to compile technical reports for the case, including mechanical expert Mario Buttigieg, who is looking into whether one particular piece of excavation machinery was used near to the foundation of the Pace family home. 

The digger was only meant to be used on the opposite side of the excavation site, a fair distance from the Pace home, one source said. 

According to the source, the digging was only meant to go through a top layer of rock to expose deeper rock that would then be examined by experts before proceeding with deeper excavation. 

Another source privy to the police investigation told Times of Malta that while investigators had found tracks at the cordoned-off excavation site, this evidence on its own was not deemed enough to go ahead and charge anyone in court.

The source said the police still needed to establish if and when this equipment was used. And, even if they found that it had been used too close to the Pace home, they would still have to establish who had used it at the time as a number of workers had access to the site.  

Last week, Times of Malta reported how workers at the excavation site had told investigators during interrogation that no digging had taken place on the day of the collapse. Sources said other parties interrogated, however, were blaming the collapse on site workers who they claim failed to follow instructions. 

“The different parties involved are pointing their finger at each other and putting the blame on anyone but themselves,” a source said. 

Another source said that an issue being looked into as part of the broader investigation into the collapse is the structural integrity of the Pace building. 

The source said allegations had been made during interrogation that the Pace family home faced problems with its foundations and that concerns about this had been shared with the family well before the collapse. 

“There are a lot of claims and counter claims being made by the parties involved in this case, so we have to look into all the different possibilities, which is taking time,” a police source said when contacted on the ongoing investigation.

In the aftermath of the building collapse, Prime Minister Robert Abela appointed a four-person panel, led by a retired judge, to review excavation and construction regulations. 

A senior government source said the review was ongoing, but the panel was expected to recommend putting increased legal culpability on developers and contractors, after a similar review last year had put added responsibility on architects.

The panel is made up of retired judge Lawrence Quintano, engineer Adrian Mifsud and court experts Mario Cassar and Mark Simiana. Mifsud is a geological and structural engineer, Cassar is a construction-related expert and Simiana is a lawyer.