A 58-year old man from Balzan died tragically yesterday morning when a mixture of explosives he was handling blew up in his hands.
Robert Farrugia, also known as Robbie, was working at St Gabriel fireworks factory, situated on Iklin hill, when the accident happened just after 9 a.m.
Two other men - Valent and Nazzareno Azzopardi, both of Balzan - escaped unhurt as they were in another section of the factory complex when the explosion took place.
They appeared visibly shaken as police officers, Civil Protection Department personnel, soldiers from the army bomb disposal unit and a doctor arrived on site soon after the explosion occurred.
Mr Farrugia's close family members also arrived on the spot and rushed into the fireworks factory complex visibly anxious. Balzan archpriest Fr Kalcidon Vassallo also rushed to the scene as soon as he was informed about the accident. The police said the fireworks factory was not damaged in the blast.
People living in the vicinity said they rushed out of their houses when they heard the explosion. A young man who lives in the neighbourhood said he realised something had happened as the noise "was louder than a petard being let off". Another claimed he saw a small cloud of smoke emerge from behind the carob trees and rubble walls that conceal the fireworks factory.
This was another in a series of fireworks accidents this year.
Two men - Antoine Cilia, 36, of Dingli, and Charles Farrugia, 59, of Zebbug - died on July 5 when blasts ripped through the factory of St Joseph's De Rohan Band Club in Wied Qirda, Siggiewi.
Joe Zammit, 38, who suffered serious burns and broken bones in the same explosion, died in hospital six weeks later. Carmelo Cauchi, 40, of Qormi, was crushed to death by a press he was cleaning at the St Sebastian factory in Wied ic-Cawsli, Qormi on July 26.
The Gharb fireworks factory was razed to the ground by a violent explosion on the night of August 19. The explosion shook Gozo, damaging houses in a residential area some distance away. Nobody was on site when the blast occurred.