Four hurt as underage driver smashes into wall in 1.30am Swieqi crash

Four people were hospitalised after an underage driver smashed a car into a wall in Swieqi at 1.30am on Saturday morning.

All four victims are aged 21 and under and one of them, a 20-year-old Naxxar man, was seriously injured.

The crash happened on Triq il-Madliena and involved a Renault Zoe being driven by a 17-year-old girl from St Paul’s Bay.

In Malta, drivers must be at least 18 before they can acquire a driving licence valid for cars.

There were three passengers riding in the car at the time: the 21-year-old Naxxar man, a 19-year-old Chilean woman who lives in St Julian’s and a 20-year-old Swiss man who lives in Swieqi.

Emergency Services were called to the site and members of the Civil Protection Department were needed to help extract the victims from the car. All four were rushed to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance.

Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace is leading an inquiry into the case, which is also the subject of a separate police investigation.