Naxxar explosion: Investigators sift through the debris

No words can explain or even get closer to what happened in this tragedy, which unfortunately could have been avoided. I, together with my family give our sincere condolences to the Sammut family for the loss of a mother and a wife. We will keep you in our daily prayers and may God and Our Lady together with the Holy Spirit grant you with their precious grace. May God bless you and anyone else who suffered the consequences of this tragedy. PRAY TO GOD and we will too.

First of all my condolences to the Sina Sammut's family. I can't even begin to imagine the pain they are going through because of this ignorant twit who destroyed so many people's lives. I just cannot feel sorry for him being blown to bits.

I also believe that his wife should be charged with criminal complicity in the manslaughter, not to say murder, of Sina Sammut.

I am a resident in triq Hal Dghejf and luckily we only had minor damages in our house. However, five doors away, lives have been lost and families have become homeless.

My sympathy goes out to all the families whose lives have been tragically affected by this unfortunate incident. My deepest sympathy and condolences to the Sammut family who not only lost all their belongings but also a dear family member. May God be with you all through this rough time.

Tiziana Bonello

My aunt Sina Sammut has been found dead under the debris.

Whoever wants to give a donation to help mu uncle and the kids, may do so through the following accounts:

BOV 40017055396 (Peter Sammut account – Sammut Family Naxxar Accident Fund)

HSBC 006109185050

Thank you for your co-operation.
Roberta

Anyone who suspects, even vaguely, the illegal manufacture or storage of fireworks should have a word with the police, who, in their turn should appreciate one's concern and be patient if they receive a lot of irrelevant information. Any one who tries to help the police in the fight against crime should be complimented, even if nothing useful comes out of one's efforts. If one life is saved for every hundred silly reports, it would be worth the while.

Although I have lived in the USA for the last 9 years, I still read the Maltese newspapers online everyday and I am shocked and saddened when I read about tragedies like the last one in Naxxar. Enough is enough- shame on the authorities that haven't done anything yet about this fireworks issue. Of course the neighbors knew what was going on! how could they not? It was obviously the usual Maltese way of "burying" their heads "in the sand" and now look what happened. My heart goes out to the widower and the kids and the family of the other victim as well as to all the others that suffered damage. We all know how hard the Maltese work for their houses and how important their homes are- losing a home in this way must be devastating. But it could have been worse. Had it been a Saturday, kids wouldn't have been at school, there would have been more victims. But enough with the talk- enough with "paroli si fatti no" ! It's time to address this fireworks issue- in the United States, every year there are huge and amazing fireworks displays ( one example is on 4th of July). The fireworks are manufactured in factories that are compliant to regulations and transported and stored in a regulated manner. You never hear of any tragedies. Why can't Maltese villages import their fireworks from legitimate sources? The fact that a lot of "enthusiasts" love "making" the fireworks is now irrelevant since they are dying one by one ( no offense intended). Plus money should not be a problem since village collections for fireworks are always enormous. So let's stop just talking the talk and start walking the walk.

sina^s parents happen to be my next door nieghbours and i know sina when she was an 8 year old happchild.as she was an only daughter she was very close to her parents.few can imagine the grief that her parents are passing right now.few can imagine the grief her son and daughter are passing right now,and again few can imagine the grief her husband is passing right now.so for gods sake let justice be done by those concerned and they should see that that these things dont happen again because the grief is imaginable.my condolences goes to her parents helen and guzi,her husband peter,and the rest of there families.god be with you sina and from up there keep a good eye on your family.

Matthew Gatt is stating that I pointed my finger at someone in particular, I am only stating that whoever was responsible should pay for his actions, whether he is dead or alive.I can empathise with anyone , but the real victims are those who were not accomplices in this irresponsible act. It is immaterial whether the responsible person is dead.,but look at it the other way , we now have a widower in his prime of his life ,left with two young kids no wife and no house, and all his hard earned possessions gone. Even if he is compensated immediately ,he would still be suffering. Are we expecting the government to fork out compensation for the irresponsabilities of others? If we do that there will be more of the same.
Some readers suggested that fireworks factories should be placed out in the open , what if someone is out for a walk in the countryside and an explosion occurs? Would any land owner , like a fireworks factory near his fields?
I used to like watching fireworks up to the last Birkirkara explosion.When the Hal-Lija expert died , I realised that we are living in continuous danger, it is no longer a question of IF an explosion will take place , it is more a question of WHEN will we see a bigger tragedy.

We need ZERO tolerance on this island. The authorities must enforce this to change peoples attitude of doing what they want, as they know very well, that they can get away, with most things. Our courts need to act professional and punish severly those who break the law. As a law abiding citizen I feel that the law does not protect me.
I will never believe in a million years that the locals and the police did not know of what was going on. Turning a blind eye does not solve the problem. People choose to live in fear, as they do not want to get involved.This is the result.

My house is situated on a nest of garages with no electricity. It is impossible for me to check what goes on in these garages.

My heart goes to the poor lady's family, her husband and her children. and If the other people who worked there have any respect they would own up who they are... this has to be stopped

The people behind this tragedy should be brought to justice with no delay. The large scale operation which seemed to have been going on, makes me pretty convinced this was not a one-man job.

Sina, you've been robbed of dear life so unnecessarily. In this tragic moment, our thoughts and prayers reach out to your husband, children and parents.

Irresponsible act that took from us a sencere, energetic and responsible mother of two.
This was a "professional person", in the fireworks industry, who knew the risks of doing such a job. If he was willing to risk his life for his job, why risking other innocent persons' life with his?
This may also raise the question that there could be others who are doing the same. Are there any means that such explosives to be inspected regularly to ensure that they are properly stored in the CORRECT place? Or do we have to wait for the list of other innocent persons to be longer?
May God bless Mr Sammut and the two children during these hard moments and always.

shame, shame, shame, poor victoms. we have seen this happening a couple of months ago, and yet it happend again. At times I wonder what pleasure is there in listining repetitive nuisance bumm bumm bang bang throughout summer. These firework factories, should be abolished once and for all for our own health and safety. Goverment, it's time to act and to enforce the rules, showing symphaty to family victoms by turning up to funerals is not the correct approach that needs to be taken.

Fanatical maniacs exist in every society; A new law, named after Sina Sammut, should be created, which enforces zero tolerance on people who insist on continuing with their dangerous passtimes, irrespective of putting innocent lives at risk. Breaking such a law should be a criminal offence. May Sina Sammut's name deter future maniacs from carrying out similar hobbies in future. And may she rest in peace.

It is not the time to enforce the regulations regarding the manufacture of fireworks, but to abolish them. The authorities should be brave enough as they were when they almost abolished hunting.
This is not a question of where it is being done, people died and will still do if this practice is continued. I find it very difficult to understand why these people put themselves in such a danger consequently putting their responsibilities towards their own children in jeopardy let alone towards others. Please stop them. Who is going to give these two children their mother's love and comfort?

Please do something to avoid this from happening again. No hobby can result in taking away lives anymore. We should stop all this once and for all.

Is it possible for these people to go unnoticed producing and storing fireworks in residential areas? I would go so far as to say that they are just like suicide bombers being so unresponsible to do these things in residential areas.Does the village of Naxxar have its own fireworks factory or not?I would also suspect that there are other "Garages" of this kind in use in the locality and it would be wise if the authorities were to make a raid on suspicious sites altogether. the devastation to both life and limb cannot be justified by this so called hobby of theirs.

I think everyone is passing blame now that the cookie has crumbled. As stated in many comments below, I find it hard to believe that storing such a huge amount of fireworks would have gone unoticed by neighbours,but typical Maltese cause we are worried about what people say or looking like a snitch, we bury our head in the ground & say nothing!
Fireworks is one of the few Maltese traditions that remain & make our country unique. The problem stems with the authorities, proper bulidings should be built for this hobby & maybe even goverment funding to help people that love this hobby & dedicate a lot of their time to making the feast extra special. People will always break laws,but if proper factories that are in line with H&S standards were made available i think this will lessen the urge to work at home & endanger oneself and others!
I feel for these families, may god give them peace.

Dear C Gerada - do you know how long it takes for a team of people to remove the debris stone by stone? Heavy equipment cannot be used, otherwise you risk not seeing the injured person!! A prayer to those involved in the rescue services; it's a dangerous situation!

just realised now the garages actually belonged to one of the victims. All I can say is I feel sorry for the family he left behind....who were lucky they weren't at home at the time. My point is these people know how dangerous fireworks can be, but they insist on dabbling with them, despite the numerous deaths caused in the past. If they want to risk their lives that's up to them, however to do that in a residential street is just barbaric

How awful, my heart goes out to the victim's families......these poor people must have thought they were safe in their own home...I hope the owners of the fireworks think the loss of two lives, and the hardship of the other families who are now homeless is worth a couple of bangs and colours, ironically to celebrate their village saints!

whilst offering my deepest sympathy to the relatives and friends of the victims of the latest fire works
tradegy at Naxxar, we all know that this is not the end of such disasters, every year we hear of fire works explosion in malta, and every yera people die, I don't see the point in these unfortunate events, fire works should be banned completely, it is obvouis that the maltese are not responsible grown ups when it comes to handling these weopons, it is no different than allowing anyone walking around with a loaded gun, they must be stopped, if you are reading this and agree please send your comment too, maybe this will be the last tragedy,

The fireworks explosion is no surprise to me! It seems that anyone in Malta can open any business in a garage in a residential area and regardless of noise or inconvenience to the neighbours, without recourse to the authorities. Where are the police in these matters?

I am sure the local police knew nothing about this "factory" and did not turn a blind eye. The government employs them to protect the public.

All of what you are saying is true and i sympathize with all the victims but now let's not forget also Mr.Camilleri's wife and son who will now have to face all this ordeal alone. Is it possible that the none of the neighbours knew what was going on and no one had the guts to report it to the police? Sometimes maybe we feel guilty in reporting a bad act however for sure this was not the case.

How can a person's hobby continue to hold our society as potential victim to danger and injustice, whatever that hobby is!

There was a huge amount of explosives and I do not believe this was a one-man job.

It's true that fireworks production is a hobby for quite a few, but how worthed is its claiming of so many lives? Add on to that hobby a sense of irresponsability and what do we end up with? Yesterday's story is a sad but true answer. A case which made me confirm my opinion in banning fireworks production.

The Naxxar tragedy makes the number of victims to 150 (since 1897)

I am a single mother of 3 and one of the sufferers to this man's blatant display of disregard to his fellow neighbors, i have suffered minor damage ( broken windows and personal belongings) Yet i and my family have been inconvenienced beyond belief ......When is this so called country going to learn that there are laws and we all have to follow them!!
Such disrespect towards people is a great shame and nothing for the Maltese people to be proud of..i rest my case !!

Do you realise that unfortunately the responsible person is usually one of the victims? Once sucha tragedy takes place it is very difficult ot seek compensation.

The law is very clear on storage and handling of explosives BUT there is nothing to stop a person from breaking the law.

My surprise is that sucha a huge amount of fireworks went unnoticed by the neighbours in such a village core street for such a long time. I think it is a question of everyone shutting up and not reporting - this is one of the problems in this country - a lack of a civil sense of duty.

you tell me that tons of fireworks on site and undoubtedly years of working on them in his garage and the neighbours where not aware...... hmmm

Could anyone explain how such a huge quantity of fireworks is stored in a garage without being noticed? Shouldn’t anyone noticing have reported to the authorities and avoiding this tragedy?
Probably this was not the only illegal fireworks store and if any one is aware of such places please do not let this happen again, speak out.
We could not let such families be ripped of their lives just for the sake of these disturbing petard noises. Please stop it now.

It's about time that fireworks regulations be stepped up to an adequate level to provide protection for all civilians. More importantly it's about time that more resources be dedicated to investigation and enforcement maybe finally these tragedies may stop happening.

With respect to Mr. Schembri's comment, this is not an issue of compensation. Moreover it seems clear to me that not only was the main individual responsible buried in the rubble, but his major assets, i.e. his house and garage, buried him. The next of kin, his wife, surely cannot be held responsible for what happened. The tragedy has not only left her a widow and homeless, but she now has to find a means to provide for her child. Let's really think before we let our emotions manifest themselves in a counter-productive finger-pointing exercise.

My heart goes to those young children who have lost their mother. We should all stand by this family and support them in any way possible. As for the rest, let justice take its course and let this tragedy be an eye-opener to all other fireworks workers. Please, as much as you try to make others happy by your magnificent fireworks displays, make sure that you don't bring pain to us too. I appeal that if anyone has fireworks in storage nearby other buildings, he should immediately remove them.

An appeal to those who know about other irresponsible people doing the same thing all around the Island to report them to the police and to take immediate action before the same thing happens again.

How did it take so long to recover the body? are the civil protection well prepared?

I find it rather difficult to believe that nobody in that road knew that there were persons who were manufacturing explosives, moreover when they had not one garage but four of them. Somebody should have reported them to the Authorities to avoid this disaster !!!!!!!!

I wonder if the neighbours in the street, and the victims themselves knew what was going on, that is, that fireworks were stored in their street. Has anyone ever made reports to the Police? If so, why haven't the Police took care of the situation, and removed this danger from site? That's why fireworks factories are situated further from housing in case of this kind of danger. Now I think will they learn to take care of things before it's too late? A similar thing had happened in Fgura and the people finished without a home for a long time until it was rearranged. A good thing that time was that they had gone out that day. Now what will happen to all those suffering people? What will compensate them? Nothing! And what about those children who found themselves without a mother? Something has to be done for these people who found themselves poorly without a house, without a wife/mother and without any belongings. May God give them peace and sympathy.

"Terrorists" in our midst ... Innocent people killed while going about their business by lunatics who have no concern for their lives or the lives of others. The potential for loss of life was so much greater that while we express our sorrow to the families of the dead, we thank God that the number of dead is actually only two. This tragic incident fills me with horror.

How many stories do we hear every year about an explosion caused by fireworks. But this truly stands out. Fireworks in a densely populated area? All the victims should be fully compensated for the damages. An extremely sad day for everyone involved.

is it possible no one knew of what was going on and no report was filed with the police?
severe fines and strict laws have to be enforced. what happened is unacceptable

The govenrment should take responsibility when the perpetrators of this irresponsible and barbaric "suicide bombings" cannot make amends for the damage they cause. There should be a special fund to reimburse victims of these tragedies. After all, it is lack of law enforcement that allows these tragedies to happen. I am also amazed how movement of these exploxives is permitted without police escort and in marked vehicles.

I was actually out and about in the road parallel to where the explosion took place. It was like a scene out of a movie. My condolences go out to Mrs Sammut's family. Hopefully, an end is put to fireworks production. Another solution would be, that all fireworks factories must be situated in uninhabited areas and if they want they can blow each other up!

People observing even the most insignificant suspicious movements especially near their homes should pass on their suspicions to the police who on their part should investigate immediately observing strict anonimity of the source of the report. Unlike the police we are everywhere and it is our duty to help avoid tragedies.

The people who take pleasure in producing fireworks should be licensed and regulated with very strict and harsh rules. The Govt. has slept on this issue for enough years. Blowing up themselves in a factory in the little countryside we have is already dangerous, but thats their problem, putting civilians in this kind of danger is unacceptable!

I hope that this disaster will at least open the eyes of people who are doing this type of dangerous 'work' in residential areas to come clean and remove everything from their residences or garages.

This could have gone much worse, and we cannot afford another death due to fireworks.

We are all sorry for what happened and we all hope that something is done for this to never happen again.

However now my concern and worry goes to the innocent families involved, who in a split of a second, lost their house, their belongings, family members, and have to start from scratch. I hope and wish that whoever can help them in all ways especially financially, steps in and gives his support. If anyone of us was in this situation, I think we would appreciate that people help us, after all Maltese are known for their kind hearts!!

This disaster could have been greater had the explosion taken place in the afternoon or during the night. Just hope that an in-depth inquiry is held and someone is held responsible. How can such an incident happen in 2008? What about EU rules? This has taken the debate about fireworks production in Malta to a higher degree. I am amazed how someone can stock up his garage or basement with explosives and put civilian's lives in danger, just like that.

The time has come to put an end to this farce. The victims should be adequately compensated by the people who were responsible for this avoidable tragedy , their properties and wealth should be confiscated to make good for their actions.

What a shame. A tragedy that proves indisputably that an attitude of laissez faire only contributes to criminal and anti-social behaviour. This is negligent man-slaughter/murder, and our reaction should be nothing short of total condemnation. Civilised society is begging that an example is made out of ALL those responsible, including the owners/users of the other "storage" garages. Please, no more!