A huge part of the Dwejra Window rock collapsed

Posted On - Report: Owen Galea Photos: Ocean foto, Miki Mikele Video: Insider

Gozo’s famous Dwejra Window, one of the most beautiful natural sites in the Maltese islands, continued to suffer damages after a huge part of its rock collapsed in the past days.

During recent years, many people spoke about the damage caused during the years in the Dwejra Window. According to geologists, this is a natural process that is changing the image of the rock formation as it looked until scores of years ago.

The window’s rock was formed on a period of thousands of years at a place that is characterized by different rock layers. This means that the narrow gaps in the rocks, which are softer that the outside rock, were always there.

The natural elements have played a big part in the gradual degradation of the rock that faces the Northwest of Gozo. Those who are familiar with the area are aware of the consequences that heavy storms leave at Dwejra, which at times even caused the lives of people that were dragged from the rocks to the sea. The rock that forms the Dwejra Window has been degrading, with a certain speed, for a number of years while it started being documented in the past 55 years.

According to a diver-photographer who is familiar with the area, the piece of rock that collapsed in the past days is quite big and is 20 metres long in length with a width of 12 metres.

On Facebook, the diver appealed to colleague divers not to lose time and visit the Dwejra Window before it is too late. He said that the rock displaced itself from the rest of the rocks a few hours after he was diving in the Dwejra Window area. The rock collapsed due to heavy seas that hit the area in the past days. However, he warned divers with the danger of diving near the displaced rock, saying that the tourist attraction does not seem it will last many more years.

In fact, this photograph together with others by an Italian photographer showing the recent cracks in the rock under the arch were published a few days after Professor Vincent May – a Bournemouth university geologist – warned that certain cracks in the rock may collapse in a “few days”. Prof. May, who was entrusted by the Gozo Ministry to carry out a new study on the Dwejra rocks, said that the future of the Dwejra Window is an uncertain one and concluded that the arch is expected to fall in a period not far away due to the damages it sustained by heavy winds and seas that affect the area.