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Internet friendship leads to tragedy

The unidentified 30-year-old Maltese woman, who was seriously injured last week when she mysteriously fell from the back of a van travelling at a high speed down a Toronto highway, is currently recovering from serious head injuries.

She is expected to be released from hospital in the coming days. and is expected to return to Malta once she is well enough to leave.

The Maltese woman, whose name the Ontario police have not yet released, travelled to Canada in August as the result of an Internet friendship she had struck up with 35 year old Joseph Cilia, a Canadian resident.

Cilia, the driver during the incident, has been charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm, resisting arrest, failing to remain at the scene of a crash and assault. He remains in a detention centre, awaiting a bail hearing to be held tomorrow.

While witnesses agree there was some kind of argument or struggle - with arms flailing and papers swirling around in the van - minutes before the woman fell out, Ontario Provincial Police report that they are still uncertain whether she pushed, forced to jump or accidentally fell from the vehicle during rush-hour traffic in the incident on 2 October.

Following the incident, the driver proceeded to make a U-straight into oncoming traffic – forcing a number of cars to swerve in order to avoid collision.

Maltese woman soaked in blood

Cilia was arrested some 20 minutes later, after a report of a vehicle driving the wrong way in the eastbound lanes and forcing on-coming traffic off the road.

Officials at the scene say the Maltese woman was soaked in blood, with abrasions covering her from head to toe when firemen arrived.

According to a spokesperson, authorities on the scene were so traumatised by the state of the woman, that many of them actually shed tears.

"She has some memory loss, so we're still working on determining what happened to her,'' a police spokesperson commented on Thursday.

While police still aren't releasing the woman's name, the lead investigator in the case has spoken with her several times and says she recollects events that happened earlier in the day, but not the incident itself.

Memory loss is not uncommon in someone with serious head trauma, and doctors are optimistic she will make a full recovery.

The freak incident had left passing motorists and rescuers in stunned horror. However, onlookers’ surprise was heightened when there was no attempt by the driver to stop after the woman came out of the vehicle travelling at about 100 kilometres per hour.

Luckily, alert truckers created a protective wall around her with their vehicles, so she wouldn't be struck by on-coming vehicles as she skidded from the middle lane and landed on the side of the highway dazed and bleeding.