A man and a woman were hit by pieces of burning fireworks in Gozo on Saturday and said they might have been killed had they been standing in a different position.

The woman was hit in the face by what appeared to be a fragment of the firework and the man was burned in the stomach, inches away from where his young daughter was standing.

The incident happened on Saturday night, when bits of fireworks launched during a pyrotechnic show at the Munxar feast fell onto spectators in the neighbouring village of Sannat.

The two injured were treated in hospital and released the same night.

They were among a group of fireworks enthusiasts enjoying a barbecue with their families in the street to watch the show. Several children and elderly people were present.

The fireworks are launched from fields situated between the two villages – long-time feast rivals – which are separated by a road.

The mayor of Sannat, Philip Vella, has lashed out at the “irresponsible” way Munxar handled the pyrotechnic show but Munxar mayor Damian Spiteri said it had all the necessary permits and was operated legally.

The injured woman, Diane Spiteri, told Times of Malta that when the first fireworks took off and exploded in the sky, she had already started to feel something was not right.

“The blast of the first one literally pushed us back against our seats and we felt the skin on our face stretch backwards. I started to feel uneasy and told some family members it felt like we could actually die,” she said.

“But there wasn’t much time to do anything about it. Up came the second firework, then the third, and then the fourth one hit me on the face.”

Spiteri said it all happened in the blink of an eye at around 9.15pm. Part of the firework which had just exploded in the sky ricocheted off a nearby wall and hit her on her left cheek.

“It felt like a very big, very hot punch in the face,” she said.

“Thank God, I lowered my head when I realised what was happening. If my head had been a little higher up, it would have blinded me.”

Spiteri sustained burns on her face and doesn’t know if she will be permanently scarred.

Video footage sent to Times of Malta appears to show the moment a firework fragment fell and hit a table. It shows people screaming and a plume of smoke surrounding their table.

The injured man, who preferred not to be named, was standing inches away from the woman and was hit in the stomach, sustaining burns.

We felt the skin on our face stretch backwards

He heard a loud noise and felt something burning his torso. When he looked down, he saw fire had burned through his jacket and polo shirt.

“I felt my stomach burning like I was on fire. And I thought my clothes were on fire and removed them quickly. Then I just began to look for my young daughter who was with us that night. She was right beside me when the spark hit me,” he said.

“I had some blood on my stomach and I was all covered in soot from my shoulders down to my belly, as if someone had scrubbed me thoroughly with a piece of coal.”

The man has decided not to take legal action, saying he did not want to make the trauma worse, but said the incident could easily have turned into a tragedy.

“There were babies in pushchairs there with us, it could have been far worse,” the injured woman added.

Sannat mayor Vella said that while he did not want to stop Munxar from organising its fireworks shows, he had long warned that they were being launched too close to the residences of his village.

He recalled an incident last year when part of a firework landed in a private residence.

“People have come to me this year saying they are terrified. I have pleaded with the police to ensure safety ahead of the feast, to avoid more accidents,” he said. “And it happened. People could have died on Saturday.”

By law, there must be a 200-metre buffer zone between the point where the fireworks are launched and residences, but Vella expressed doubt on whether the rule was followed.

Defending the show, Munxar mayor Spiteri said his village had all the permits, was compliant with all regulations and the police had carried out all the necessary inspections ahead of the event.

He argued that it was wrong of the people in Sannat to organise a barbecue without a permit too close to where the fireworks were being launched.

Vella rebutted, saying the barbecue had a permit and was held in a residential road, which was not closed off for the show. Other people had, in fact, gathered there to watch, he added.

He also raised the spectre of children attending the primary school on the edge of Sannat, a few metres away from the fields where the fireworks were launched, finding bits of unexploded fireworks in the grounds.

“Parents have come to me asking whether it’s safe to send their children to school on Monday and I didn’t know what to say.”

In response, the Munxar mayor said licensed personnel were given access to the school grounds, nearby football pitch and the surrounding areas to clear up any fireworks remnants, in line with the rules.

The Sannat mayor confirmed the area had been cleared up.

The Munxar mayor also accused the Sannat group of provocation and of illegally trespassing beyond the boundary of the closed-off area in an effort to hinder the show.

“I will not allow anyone to intimidate or break our community,” Spiteri said in a post on Facebook.

“Where there is unity, there is strength, and [this weekend] unity won over division.”

On Sunday morning, the Sannat mayor filed a court injunction to stop more fireworks from being launched until the facts of the incident are established.

But the magistrate refused the request and Sunday’s fireworks went ahead as planned, after a few more inspections confirmed that the site was safe.