UPDATE 7: Naxxar blast, tons of firework being removed

Army explosives experts have removed a truckload of firework material from two garages in the heart of a residential area just metres away from another garage in Naxxar which blew up this morning, demolishing three houses. Another truck is in the process of being filled.

Meanwhile policemen and members of the Civil Protection Department are slowly removing rubble from the scene of the devastation in an effort to get to the bodies of the man and woman reported dead this morning when the garage blew up in a huge explosion at 11 a.m. The operation is a slow and dangerous one, with puffs of smoke ocasionally seen as debris is removed.

The dead are believed to be a 57-year-old man who was in the garage and a woman in her 30s, a mother of two, who lived in an adjoining house. However all other residents have been accounted for.

Residents of neighbouring houses have been evacuated because their houses have suffered serious structural damage.

A house across the street from the explosion was badly damaged by a fire which burnt for a couple of hours before being brought under control.

The explosion also injured three women, two of whom have been kept at Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.

An eyewitness said she saw a pick-up van being blown right across the street and smashing into a building with the force of the blast. The van could be seen on its side in a scene which looked like a war movie.

The eye witness said that she had rushed out after the first explosion and heard people shouting warnings of another explosion before another blast rocked the area and she then saw the vehicle being blown across the street. Other people said there were three powerful explosions.

A number of fire engines and ambulances quickly arrived on the scene. The area, close to 21st September Avenue, remains closed off.

The Prime Minister was among those who visited the site and was briefed by Police Commissioner John Rizzo. President Eddie Fenech Adami visited the scene this evening.

mynews@timesofmalta.com

Picture: Darrin Zammit Lupi