Updated 10.40am

A 19-year-old man died on Friday night in a head-on collision between two cars in Mġarr that left two others hospitalised. 

The young victim was driving a Toyota Corolla on Triq Sir Temi Zammit at around 11.15pm when the crash happened. 

Alan Galea, 19, died at the scene of the crash. Photo: Facebook

He was heading towards Mosta, where he lived, with an 18-year-old man in the passenger seat when he collided with a Mitsubishi pickup truck being driven in the opposite direction by a 35-year-old man from Mġarr. 

The front half of the Toyota was crushed upon impact and it required the expertise of Civil Protection Department officials to extract the two passengers from it.

The 19-year-old, who was subsequently named as Alan Galea, died after suffering fatal injuries, while his 18-year-old passenger was seriously injured and rushed to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.

Photo: Malta Police Communications and Media Relations Unit

The driver of the Mitsubishi also needed medical attention. No information about his injuries was available at the time of writing. 

Police officers worked throughout the night to clear debris from the crash and nearby rubble walls which ended up on the busy road leading to Mġarr, which was temporarily closed to traffic. Eyewitnesses reported seeing officers on site from the time of the crash until at least 4.15am. 

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia is leading an inquiry into the case. Most district police are leading a police investigation. 

Friday's fatality comes two days before the United Nations-recognised world day of remembrance for road traffic victims, which will be marked on Sunday. 

In a statement to highlight the event, pressure group Doctors for Road Safety said that every "accident" reported has a definite and preventable cause and that each crash merited thorough investigation. 

Understanding this was crucial to informing public policies and decisions about infrastructure and vehicle manufacture, they noted, as they advocated for policies geared towards reducing and eliminating road traffic casualties.

According to official data, there were just under 8,800 traffic crashes between January and September of this year, down from the just under 12,000 registered in the same period last year. Eleven people lost their lives as a result of crashes in the first nine months of the year.