Fractured cliff face hangs dangerously over bathers at St Peter's Pool

A large section of the cliff at St Peter's Pool has developed a deep vertical crack, raising fears that a massive boulder could break away and fall on bathers.

Photographs taken by a regular visitor to the area from the sea show the wide crack running from the top of the cliff, all the way down to the bottom.

The precarious cliff face sits directly above a stretch of flat rock where bathers were seen lying on towels and sheltering in the shade.

No barriers or warning signs are visible around the area.

Photographs by a regular visitor show the wide crack running from the top of the cliff to the bottom, almost ready to give way. (Photo: Charles Falzon)

People continue to use the area directly beneath the cracked section. In one of the photographs, a group of bathers can be seen sitting and lying on the rocks a short distance from fallen boulders, with the overhanging slab above them. Another shows a man walking along the shore close to the base of the cliff.

St Peter's Pool is a natural swimming spot on the Delimara peninsula, within the limits of Marsaxlokk, and is one of the most popular bathing areas in the south of Malta during the summer months.

The site draws large crowds of locals and tourists, who reach it on foot, by car or on boat trips from Marsaxlokk.

A deep crack runs down the cliff face at St Peter's Pool, photographs show, as a huge slab of rock hangs over a stretch of shore used by swimmers and sunbathers. (Photo: Charles Falzon)

The cliffs around the pool are made of soft limestone, which wears away easily with wind, rain and sea spray. The photographs show large boulders already lying at the foot of the cliff, a sign that rock has fallen from the face before.

It is not the first time that cliffs around Malta have proven hazardous. In 2024, Mirabelle Falzon, a 22-year-old woman from Siġġiewi, was killed by falling rocks along the Munxar cliffside, near St Thomas Bay in Marsaskala.