Jean Paul Death, Obituary – At approximately 1:40 in the morning on Sunday, rescue workers located the lifeless body of JeanPaul Sofia, 20, who was from Swatar beneath the debris of a three-story building that had collapsed as a result of construction work. The building had been undergoing renovations at the time of its collapse. Swatar was Sofia’s home for many years. Rescue workers from the Civil Protection Department removed, in a methodical and orderly manner, a portion of the structure that was still intact after the earthquake, and it was during this process that the body of Sofia was recovered from the rubble where she had been trapped.
The only people who were able to positively identify his body were his parents, who, along with other relatives and acquaintances, had been at the scene since Saturday morning. On Saturday, rescuers were able to remove five additional personnel; these individuals were taken to the hospital, where they are presently receiving treatment for critical and life-threatening injuries. The group of five workers consisted of three Albanians, one Bosnian, and a Maltese man who was originally from St. Paul’s Bay. However, the operation to remove Sofia’s body took close to sixteen hours to accomplish since rescue teams worked in dangerous conditions due to the fragile nature of the portion of the structure that was still standing.
When it suddenly caved in at around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, when it was located in the Corradino industrial estate, workers were pumping concrete onto the ceiling of the third floor of the building. Relatives claim that Sofia was not working at the time that she went to the construction site to hand over some tools that she had brought along with her to the workers there. According to the footage obtained from the surveillance cameras, he entered the building only eight minutes before it collapsed. The location of the potential victim was gradually narrowed down by the rescue workers; however, their efforts were hampered by the sheer amount of rubble that was present as well as the instability of the structure that was still standing.
There was no attempt made to make contact with the victim while the rescue workers were painstakingly clearing the area of rubble and dangerous structures in order to prevent further collapse.
The terrible moment that the structure came crashing down was captured on CCTV tape. The incident occurred when a portion of the wall on the bottom floor fell. The structure was utterly obliterated in less than two minutes and fifteen seconds.