'Everything gone in minutes': Farm hit by fireworks explosion pleads for help

The owners of a Salina cow farm that was badly impacted by Monday’s fireworks factory explosion are pleading for help to rebuild their shattered business.

“When you see everything you worked for in your entire life being impacted and destroyed before your eyes, the injury is not only financial but also emotional,” wrote James Vella in a Facebook post where he also urged authorities to take this into account alongside the material and financial damage.

Vella – from Vella Farm located three fields away from the Lourdes Fireworks Factory - said the tragedy had devastated families who had spent years building their businesses.

“The victims are the innocent people and animals who found themselves in this tragedy through no choice of their own,” he wrote.

“Residents were about to start a normal week. Workers were preparing for the days ahead. Families who made sacrifices for years, denying themselves to pay loans and build their investments, saw everything threatened or destroyed in a matter of minutes.”

“While the material damage can be quantified, the financial burden left behind is much greater. Some are facing significant, unexpected expenses. Beyond this, there is also psychological trauma,” he wrote.

The farm was among the most severely affected due to its proximity to the Lourdes Fireworks Factory.

Earlier this week Times of Malta reported how the blast killed some of the cows when large rocks tore through the shed sheltering them.

Beyond the loss of the animals, the Vella family suffered significant damage to their home and their adjoining farm's infrastructure.

Fear is always there

One family member, who preferred not to be named, said: “We need help to rebuild our lives - our home and our business… It was terrifying. What people don’t understand is that for us, the fear is always there. Every time there is a heatwave, we worry the fireworks factory may blow up. We have already lived through it before,” she said, referring to a previous explosion in the area eight years ago.

The blast blew holes in the boundary walls of Vella Farm, damaging cars

In 2018 the Lourdes Fireworks Factory was also rocked by a series of blasts which left two people seriously injured, one of whom later succumbed to his injuries.

During Monday’s blast, most of the windows in the Vella residence were blown out and the blast sent large stones flying across the farm, smashing walls, punching several large holes in a cow shed, killing cows and damaging cars.

A nearby resident said the cow canopy appeared to have absorbed much of the blast, possibly sparing the family’s home from even greater damage.

While her own windows were shattered, a large stone crashed through her car awning and into the vehicle.

“Had it happened a few minutes later, I would have been there with my eight-year-old, taking her to school,” she said.

Large stones smashed through the house of a resident close to the fireworks factory.

The  Lourdes Fireworks Factory on Triq il-Qadi exploded at around 6.30am in a series of blasts that registered a magnitude of 1.9 on the Richter scale. Two men were hospitalised. One was a farmer who had been in a nearby field when a room collapsed onto him.

Several buildings in the area were damaged, and animals were also affected. These included cows from the Vella farm and animals at a nearby bird park. Horses in nearby stables were also injured by falling debris.