The parents of a teenage boy who suffered serious burns to his right leg during a Good Friday procession have called on the church and Valletta authorities to take responsibility for the incident.

The boy, who is not being named to protect his privacy, stepped over a fiaccola (fire torch) and suffered a third-degree burn, his father says.

Since the incident in March 2018, the family have been calling on the entities that organised the procession to pay damages, but so far no one has done so.

“It was a deep burn which he has to live with. It still hurts,” said the father, who asked for names not to be published to avoid exposing his son, 15, during his sensitive teenage years.

“It hurts, for example, when he wears jeans or when he wore his school trousers, since they rub against the wound and irritate it.”

The parents have now filed a sworn application in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Archconfraternity of the Sacred Crucifix, the provincial of the Order of Friars Minor, the archpriest of the collegiate parish church of St Paul’s Shipwreck, the Archbishop of Malta, Valletta Foundation 2018, the Valletta Cultural Agency, Valletta local council as well as the police commissioner, attorney general and state lawyer. 

It was a deep burn which he has to live with. It still hurts

The parents are calling on the court to declare who should bear responsibility for the incident and order them to pay compensation for the boy’s suffering.

On March 30, 2018, at about 8.30pm, the boy and his mother were at the Good Friday procession in Valletta.

They crossed Merchants Street to go to the Church of St Mary of Jesus (Ta’ Ġieżu) in St John Street when suddenly he felt a burning sensation on his leg and shouted in pain.

It turned out that, amid the crowd participating in the procession, there were fiaccoli on the ground. The boy walked into one and the combustible material in the torch spilt onto the lower part of his right leg.

The family say the fiaccoli had no protection and there was no notice warning the public that there were open flames with combustible liquid on the ground among the crowd.

The boy has suffered permanent damage, the family contend in the application, and those to blame must take the responsibility.