The victim of November’s Kirkop fireworks factory explosion has finally been released for burial, with his funeral scheduled for Saturday morning.

Leonard Camilleri, 64, was killed when the San Ġużepp factory was rocked by a series of explosions on November 26 at around 7am.

Camilleri was a keen fireworks enthusiast and also served as the factory’s licensee for several years.

He had quit that role some years back and was less involved in the factory’s work in the past years. But his passion drew him back to the fold, and he had recently taken to lending a hand again.

The body’s release for burial came just 10 days after Times of Malta published a story quoting relatives expressing their dismay that their loved one had not yet been given the final send-off he deserved.

The victim’s nephew, Larner Polidano, had told Times of Malta that the family was still in the dark on the ongoing magisterial inquiry and were only told DNA samples were sent abroad for testing.

“We are completely in the dark. All we were told is that the magisterial inquiry has not yet been concluded. But it’s been far too long. We are still grieving his loss and now we’re going to go through it again when his body is released and when we are able to give him the final send-off he deserves,” he had said.

Polidano complained that it was as though the investigators were not believing those who confirmed that the body was his but were insisting on waiting for DNA tests to confirm his identity.

“We know it’s him even though we could not identify him. There was someone inside with him at the time and he too told the police it’s him. It seems they’re not believing us,” he had said.

Rescuers initially could not locate Camilleri and were not sure whether or not he was inside the complex, but they confirmed he was dead four hours later.

Camilleri was well aware of the risks working at a fireworks factory entailed as he had already survived a similar blast in the past.

Back in February 2012, he was among two men injured when a similar explosion blew ceilings and walls off the Kirkop factory as they prepared fireworks in an adjacent room. The men noticed something was wrong and ran away just in time, escaping serious injury.

Friends described Camilleri as a kind man of few words.

“He was always at the każin, he was friendly with everyone,” recalled Francis Zammit, who said his son was lucky to still be alive as he was meant to be with Camilleri inside the factory at the time of the blast.

That day he was called in to work.