October: Plane crash leaves five Frenchmen dead

4 October

A couple of days after the gruesome discovery of Carolin Magri, the police arraigned a Togolese man, 33-year-old Djibril Ganiou. He appeared before Magistrate Gabriella Vella who ordered the man to be remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to the charges of murder.

6 October

The name Konrad Mizzi and the Panama Papers were echoing in the front pages of The Independent even if the year was approaching its end. Testifying in a libel case against the PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami, the minister without portfolio refused to name the company supposedly carrying out the audit of his account in Panama. When asked what the name of the company was by lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, instead of replying in open court, the Minister chose to pass the buck to the Prime Minister. “You should ask that question to the Prime Minister”, Mizzi said during his testimony. Eventually, even when asked by the media on several occasions, the Prime Minister refused to divulge the name of the company.

13 October

A Maltese artist was shocked to learn that his art installation at the Council of Europe was defaced because it included an edited and toned down version of the infamous Danish cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. The Malta Independent revealed that the section of the 1,000 photo collage that showed a representation of the prophet was literally sliced off – allegedly by a Muslim MP who took offence at the picture.

14 October

The government announced it has opened legal proceedings against Skanska, the company that was responsible for the building and seismic design of Mater Dei Hospital. Minister for Health Chris Fearne said this is a national issue and the government wants all stakeholders to pull the same rope. He said that the major problems the government is concerned about are the defective material used in the building and its seismic design. Standards were not met as required and as a result the hospital lifespan is not what was originally expected.

18 October

October was budget month, and it was on this day that every newspaper on the island packed the majority of its pages with the proposals put forward by Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna. In its coverage, The Malta Independent led with the fact that this year’s budget was ‘socially minded’ but ignored the middle class. As promised by the Prime Minister, this was not a budget of surprises. The cost of living adjustment better referred to as COLA, was of €1.75 or €4 per week for minimum wage earners. The Opposition expressed its disappointment for the lack of vision in the budget and many criticized the fact that the budget featured no cuts in the electricity bills.

24 October

Newspapers were dominated by terrifying news – the death of five people caused by the crash of a light aircraft crashed soon after take-off at Malta International Airport. MIA con-

firmed that five people died in the accident which took place at 7.20am. All five have been confirmed as being French nationals by the Department of Information. The remains of all five men have been found, the government said. The plane crashed near the runway soon after take-off and burst into flames.

25 October

Yana Mintoff, daughter of former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, and her son were injured on Monday night when they were attacked with a knife in what seems to have been a domestic argument. Officers went there to investigate and it resulted that the 65year-old woman and her son, aged 32, both resident at Tarxien, were suffering from stab wounds. The police did not give the names of the injured. The police later discovered that the man involved in the argument had been hiding in a tree in the vicinity. He had also been injured and his cloths were bloodied.

30 October

The month ended with a bang. A powerful fireworks explosion rocked Gudja on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, despite the glass shattering sound, no one was injured in the blast. It is understood that the explosion took place as fireworks were being prepared to be let off for the feast of the Madonna tacCintura. This is the secondary feast of Gudja, as the main feast is that of the Ascension of Our Lady, celebrated on 15 August.

31 October

A day later, another explosion took place, this time in Saint Pauls Bay. A businessman was the sole victim following a blast which was most likely caused by a car bomb.