THE Maltese Government has endured a series of crises including the resignation of its Prime Minister and other senior figures over the murder of a campaigning journalist, and yesterday there was even more pressure piling on Ministers after the tragic death of a mother of two in a house collapse.
Miriam Pace, 54, died after her house in Hamrun catastrophically collapsed and buried her under tons of rubble. She leaves a husband, Carmel, and two children.
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Mourners lay candles at the site yesterday and a police investigation was launched after it emerged that building regulations may not have been followed in a building project next door to the collapsed house.
It was reported by the press in Valletta that six people, including the architect and site technical officer of the project adjacent to the house are under arrest in relation to the case.
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There has been considerable anger over similar cases of collapsing buildings and alleged government failure to deal with the situation. Opposition politician Vicky Ann Cremona told the Malta Independent that it was “shameful that developers were still left to do as they please and pocket money”, and she called, first and foremost, for the resignation of Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg.
This prompted Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela to say that he will not “tolerate the dragging of feet” in the investigations into the Hamrun collapse.
Abela said: “This is the fourth case where structures collapsed – these situations cannot be tolerated any more.
“Reality shows that the institutions worked, but worked slowly. That these cases take such a span is not acceptable – there are two cases where nobody was charged, where nobody has shouldered responsibility”.
The PM concluded: “I will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate impunity.”
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