Police looking for two boys
Firecracker may be the cause
The police are looking for two boys, probably in their early teens, who may have thrown a firecracker igniting a fire in which an 11-year-old boy was badly burnt on Sunday during the Siggiewi village feast, police sources said.
The boy, Glen Caruana, suffered 60 per cent burns to his upper body and was still in critical condition yesterday.
He was playing by rolling around in some shredded paper during a band march at the feast of St Nicholas in Siggiewi when the paper caught fire.
Sources yesterday said it was suspected that the fire started when the two boys being sought by the police threw a firecracker as the band was marching by.
Firecrackers are sold illegally for 10c each. They are first ignited and then thrown on the ground. A fuse delays the ensuing small explosion by about five seconds.
It is a burning fuse which is suspected to have set the paper on fire, which in Sunday's midday heat would have been very quick to ignite.
Sources said the boy's clothes caught fire and he was engulfed in flames within seconds. The boy's mother and a policeman tried to extinguish the fire and both suffered burns as a result.
The mother was badly, but not critically, injured. She was kept in hospital to avoid any risk of infection.
Her three-year-old daughter, who was also playing with the shredded paper, suffered burns to her back but was released from hospital.
The policeman suffered multiple burns to his hands and arms and his shorts caught fire. He too was sent home after treatment.
The boy's burns have been classified as first degree and he was yesterday under anaesthetic. He will remain so for the next two days to ease his pain.
The police have carried out a thorough search of kiosks and other vendors in a bid to find firecrackers but did not find any. It is possible that those who may have had any quickly disposed of them before the search was carried out, sources said.
Magistrate Giovanni Grixti is conducting an inquiry and appointed a number of experts to assist him.
Inspectors Marisa Camilleri and Jesmond Borg are investigating.