Young worker, 17, injured on his first day at work

Accident on Mdina Road Qormi • Video John Pisani

A 17-year-old from Msida was injured at 9:13am on Mdina Road, Qormi, when the fork-lifter he was riding on toppled over.

Although first reports indicated that the young man was operating the fork-lifter, his employer has insisted that it was him who was operating the machinery and that the young man – ostensibly on his first day of work – was a passenger.

The accident happened on Mdina Road opposite Shopwise Supermarket. According to the employer, he was driving the fork-lifter down to Marsa, when a car came in from behind and cut right in front of them, forcing the fork-lifter to swerve suddenly and toppling on its side.

“As soon as I swerved to avoid the car, it flipped. I was thrown out while the other one was caught underneath,” the employer said.

Passers-by stopped to help and rushed the young worker to the Qormi health centre.

From there he was picked up by an ambulance and rushed to Mater Dei Hospital. He was given medical treatment for grievous injuries, but he is not in danger of loss of life.

Police from the Traffic Section and the Rapid Intervention Unit arrived shortly after and closed the road for traffic going towards Marsa. Civil Protection Department personnel were called in to spread sand on the oil that had come out of the fork-lifter.

WPS Miriam Mangion together with WPC Sarah Fenech and PC Mario Caruana from Qormi Police Station investigated the accident.

Because of the accident traffic going towards Marsa was at slow moving because of the closure of the road, while traffic was also slow going in the opposite direction because drivers were slowing down to take a look at the fork lifter.