Farmer who lost thousands in fireworks blast spends life savings to get repaid

A farmer who lost much of his livelihood when a neighbouring fireworks factory exploded four years ago has had a “gaping wound reopened wide” following Monday’s blast as he remained without any compensation while the facility was rebuilt – illegalities and all.

Eugenio Bugeja, who tended a field in Żurrieq next to Kirkop’s San Ġużepp fireworks factory, and narrowly escaped death, was flung into a legal saga and still battling for €27,000 in damages after he lost trees, animals, crops, a van – and his “joy” – on November 26, 2022.

By the day of the village feast that summer, the blown-up fireworks factory was already up and running.

Four years later, Bugeja is still seeking some form of redress.

The 67-year-old has been fighting tooth and nail to avoid a repeat and called on farmers in similar circumstances – another two were affected by the massive Salini blast on Monday – to “unite if they wanted to get somewhere”.

Bugeja knew something about this. He has spent and stretched his minimal life savings – “put aside for his children to cover funeral costs in case of death” – on legal expenses, disillusioned by the fact that “everyone does what they want” and that fireworks factories were a vote-catching consideration.

“Behind them was a whole village of votes and not just a family of six!”

His own experience did not augur too well. The farmer had initiated legal action against the authorities for failing to protect him and the public, breaching his fundamental right to a safe environment.

He filed protests to halt the rebuilding of the factory, citing ongoing illegal activity, and was seeking damages from the authorities and the factory licensee.

A civil case initiated in January 2023, in the immediate aftermath of the blast, is still ongoing.

But Bugeja’s loss did not just involve money. “It will solve nothing! What I want is for the fireworks factory to be removed,” he said.

The farmer was already working his fields in the area known as Ħlantun before the factory was built “without any concern for safety”.

It was his “paradise”, he said, about having worked so hard for it before everything was taken away.

Eugenio Bugeja's field in Żurrieq.

Now, he no longer went to his field as often as he did and would show up at 4am to avoid any contact with the factory people, who had even insulted and threatened him, as the legal battles plod on.

His grandchildren are petrified to visit and enjoy their own field next to their grandfather’s, Bugeja’s daughter Ashley Vella said about the enduring trauma.

“My 10-year-old, who loves animals and farm life, implored us not to take the chicks that had just hatched at home to the fields for fear of death. In her eyes, it is a place where animals could die, and it has left a lasting impression on her.

“We could never look at a rabbit again,” she said after many were killed in the explosion.

The deadly 2022 blast

Bugeja somehow survived the deadly 2022 explosion that knocked him unconscious and left him buried waist-deep in rubble when a border wall between his field and the factory collapsed while he was washing a bucket to feed his chickens.

The blast claimed one victim, the factory’s licensee – unlike the 6.30am Salini explosion that, while felt far afield, miraculously left no one dead or injured.

Vella recalled the shock and horror of trying to reach her father on hearing the news; then seeing him covered in blood and thinking he was walking towards her “on adrenaline alone”, that he was “blown up inside” and would collapse in front of her.

Bugeja had told Times of Malta he remembered being engulfed in balls of fire when he came to his senses and prayed to St Catherine to be able to see his grandchildren again.

Many of his chickens were killed, and he was left to survive on a pension, which was not enough, he had said.

“At least, I would find an egg when I needed one, to give to my family too, and I would eat one of our chickens and rabbits. Now I have nothing. They took everything away from me!

Kirkop's St Joseph Fireworks Factory.

“I used to enjoy feeding the ducks and turkeys from the palm of my hand. This was my joy,” Bugeja had said.

His family have since stepped in to help get his chicken coop going again but the place they went to for some peace and quiet has almost become a no-go zone.

“No one would insure a chicken,” Vella said, and her suggestion to political parties to set up a fund for farmers “in case something goes wrong”, given no one would insure a fireworks factory, has fallen on deaf ears.

It was a case of “fireworks before lives”, she said. “I am under no illusion that these factories would ever be closed down. They are factories of votes – not just fireworks.”

Illegalities

Vella helped her father pursue a legal battle, beginning with a request for an injunction in January 2023 to block illegal reconstruction works when the process to obtain a permit had not even started. 

They have since also been described as “shoddy” in the ensuing legal battle, warning they could spell another tragedy.

Despite acknowledging the element of danger, the case was decided against Bugeja.

In a judicial protest filed against Prime Minister Robert Abela, then-Minister for Public Works Chris Bonett and others, Bugeja accused the fireworks factory of applying for the permit “in bad faith” since the demolished structures it was seeking to replace were not built before 1994 and did not have a permit. Under Maltese law, fireworks factory structures built prior to this date do not need a planning permit.

The factory has a number of illegal structures.

Bugeja invoked article 80 of the Development Planning Act, which allows anyone to ask for the revocation of a permit in cases of fraud, the submission of false information, an error, or where public safety is concerned.

The PA’s planning board opted not to revoke the permit entirely when it decided on his request last year, instead modifying it to only cover the reconstruction of structures that had been legally built in the first place.

Since the reconstruction of illegal structures had already taken place by then, an enforcement case was opened.

But, together with any daily fines that could be imposed, it was suspended as the Kirkop band club pursued an appeal before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.

The latest development earlier this year saw the EPRT reject the factory’s bid to legalise the illegal structures after rebuilding it, effectively leaving it in a state of legal limbo.

The case was appealed, and a court decision is expected later this month.