The corpses of the remaining three victims of the fireworks factory disaster were located by rescuers yesterday morning, confirming Wednesday's explosion as one of the worst ever tragedies of its kind.
The relatives' grief moved from the factory site to the hospital as the bodies of Censu Galea, 68, Paul Bonnici, 47, and Carmel Farrugia, still in his 20s, were recovered nearly two days after the incident. The three men were found close to each other.
The bodies were found at about 10 a.m., a day after the corpses of Sonny Borg, 34, and Richard Cardona, 24, were recovered from the St Helen's Fireworks Factory situated in a quarry at Ix-Xwieki, limits of Gharghur.
The sole survivor, Joe Bonello, is recovering from burns.
The five dead men were on site preparing fireworks for Birkirkara's St Helen feast which falls on August 19.
The first blast went off late on Wednesday afternoon, hurling debris hundreds of metres away, damaging windows and shutters in nearby villas. A second explosion occurred half an hour later, followed by a third shortly after.
The heavy machinery used to search for the victims in some two storeys of rubble, started being dismantled, shortly after the last three bodies were found. However, the area remains under strict surveillance in case there are further unexploded fireworks. Until Thursday, minor explosions could be heard as fireworks went off from time to time.
An autopsy is expected to be held today and the funeral will probably take place on Tuesday.
Part of the St Helen's Fireworks Factory had gone up in smoke seven years ago, and in 1994 an explosion claimed the life of Ninu Borg, 71, of Birkirkara. Mr Galea, one of the victims of Wednesday's explosion, was at the factory during that incident.
Alternattiva Demokratika deplored what it termed the unnecessary deaths in fireworks accidents.
In a tough-worded statement, AD chairman Harry Vassallo said the deaths and injuries caused by fireworks are an unforgivable extravagance.
"While it is the custom for the highest authorities to rush to the scene after such an event and show sympathy with the bereaved, the photo opportunity soon fades and the aftermath takes place far from media attention," he said.
One should also add the stress and tension caused to neighbours of fireworks factories who have to live and work with unnecessary and unprofitable risks, he said.
Joe Colombo, who owns a field nearby and who was nearly killed on Wednesday, had suffered the construction of a road on his property to accommodate the fireworks factory, Dr Vassallo charged.
"No fireworks factory neighbour enjoys effective remedies because both the government and the opposition parties run scared of the festa organisers in every village," Dr Vassallo said.
The Rabat farmers now facing an application for the construction of a Dingli fireworks factory adjacent to their fields must experience increased anxiety.
The farmers in Zejtun whose objections to a fireworks factory have been to no avail will now live in "heightened dread of being blown up". The parents of children attending the Sannat primary school, showered with petard remnants from the Munxar festa, may wonder whether it is time to do something before one of their children is maimed, Dr Vassallo said.
AD called for an immediate ban on the issue of development permits for new fireworks factories and for the revision and withdrawal of licences to factories which found neighbours' objections.
In view of the extreme electoral vulnerability of the other political parties on this issue, AD called for the establishment of an all-party steering committee to revise existing laws and practices and to determine a "sane, civilised and practicable national policy" to regulate the fireworks industry.