'I tried calling Sina on her mobile but it switched onto voicemail'

When nine-year-old Gareth Sammut lost his mother in last Wednesday's Naxxar explosion, he prayed to God to transfer her trademark smile onto his grieving father.

The enormity of the tragedy, that left this boy and his four-year-old sister Kirsty without their 35-year-old mother Sina, may not have entirely sunk in when he wrote the prayer - which he read out during the funeral on Friday.

On seeing his father, Peter, suffering in silence after losing his wife and their home, young Gareth stepped up to the role of eldest son and even insisted on choosing his mother's funeral casket and remembrance cards (santi), his cousin Ryan Vassallo told The Sunday Times.

Looking exhausted and emotionally drained, Mr Vassallo and his family have dedicated all their energy to helping Mr Sammut and the children make it through the tragedy.

Mrs Sammut was one of two people killed during Wednesday's fireworks blast that rocked Triq Ħal Dgħejf, demolishing three homes and badly damaging others. The other fatality was Paul Camilleri, 47, who is suspected to have caused the explosion when he was illegally manufacturing fireworks inside his garage that neighboured the Sammut residence.

Going back to the day of the blast, Mr Vassallo recalled that he was at work when his mother called and told him to hurry to Naxxar because something horrible had happened to his uncle.

"I arrived on site at the same time as Peter, who had been at work. The police would not let us close to the house. There was smoke everywhere. We tried to mentally re-check who was inside the house. The children were at school. Only Sina was inside. We hoped that she would emerge alive but, the more time passed, the more our hopes dwindled," he recalled.

The children were picked up from school and taken to their aunt's home, where their father eventually joined them.

Mr Vassallo and other relatives remained on the site, waiting and desperately trying to hold onto the last strains of hope to see Mrs Sammut alive. But, on Thursday morning, at about 6 a.m., the lifeless body of the young mother was found in the rubble.

Civil Protection Department (CPD) officers found her in her kitchen. She had just gone home to drop off some shopping bags before going to a crafts lesson. But she never made it to her lesson, Mr Vassallo said, adding that he then went to tell Mr Sammut they had found his wife's body.

"He was already in a state of shock but this hit him harder. He would not even speak. Even now, it's like he doesn't know what's happening around him," his nephew said.

Meanwhile Gareth and Kirsty, who were at their aunt's house, had been asking when they would be able to go home. After consulting with a psychologist from Agenzija Appoġġ, it was time to tell them what had really happened.

"Kirsty is still too young and doesn't really know what's going on. But Gareth seems to be understanding. When I ask him how he's feeling he tells me he's very sad. He told me that now his mother is in heaven near my father, who passed away about nine months ago," Mr Vassallo said.

Later that day, as they were driving past the Naxxar police station, Gareth noticed his mother's car outside the station where it had been towed. "That's when he seems to have realised what happened. He then insisted on helping organise the funeral. He's quite mature for a nine-year-old," he said.

Gareth also insisted that he wanted to remember his mother as she was when he last saw her - with a beaming smile on her face. "Sina was one in a million. She was so lively and a good friend of mine," Vicky Bugeja said with tears in her eyes. "I tried calling her on her mobile phone that day (of the explosion) and, when it switched onto voicemail, I couldn't hold back my tears," her neighbour said.

Mrs Bugeja and her family also lost their home in the explosion. Their house and the Sammut residence were situated on either side of the Camilleri home.

Mrs Bugeja was attending parents' day of her youngest daughter, nine-year-old Sarah, when a neighbour phoned to tell her what happened. She immediately called her husband, Edward.

On seeing the disaster in the area, Mr Bugeja immediately started searching frantically for his 15-year-old daughter Rachel who was the only one home at the time. A police officer saw him searching and directed him to a nearby garage where the 15-year-old was sitting on a box and given medical assistance. It turned out that Rachel was asleep in her new bedroom when she was woken up by a loud sound. The teenager was saved by a wardrobe that leaned over her bed and shielded her from the falling ceiling.

"I thought I was having a bad dream. I saw the wardrobe above me and, to one side, I saw a plastic plank that had been used on the roof. I crawled off the bed and onto the plank like a cat and made my way out of the heaps of smouldering rubble," she recalled.

On any other day her mother would have been home but, that day, she went out to her sister's parents' day.

The family lost everything they own. "We lost all the photos of the children when they were young and our wedding albums," Mrs Bugeja said nostalgically. Their home had been built by Mr Bugeja and his father-in-law 17 years ago just before they got married.

"I built it to our liking and did everything myself in that house. I even adorned the walls with gold leaf. I loved it. It was my monument. And now it's been reduced to a heap of rubble under which all our memories are buried," he said.

Oddly enough, the only item that emerged whole from their home was a painted portrait of Rachel. The family even lost their two pet cats Bell and Thomas and their bird Brainy.

Since Wednesday's explosion, Mr Bugeja has spent his days on site hoping that CPD personnel would find something. "Maybe they find my wedding ring at least," he said.

The Bugejas, like other neighbours, had no idea what Mr Camilleri was doing in his garage. They had a message to pass on: "To those who manufacture fireworks, all we can tell them is don't do it in or near residential areas. If they want to risk their lives, let them do it far out of the way, without taking innocent people's lives along with their own," Mr Bugeja said, adding that he now hoped the Government would intervene to help his family and others whose lives have been wrecked.

Since Wednesday, members of the CPD, Armed Forces, Fire Rescue and the police worked round the clock to clear the area of the blast from the broken masonry in an exercise complicated by the fear that unexploded fireworks might still be lying under the debris. In fact, yesterday, CDP director Peter Cordina said his men found unmixed chemicals in the rubble. These were not dangerous because they were not yet mixed.

The personnel also persevered in their search for Mr Camilleri. Body parts were found on Wednesday in the street and on Friday his dog was found dead.

Since the blast Appoġġ has intervened to offer psychological help while the Housing Authority provided families who lost their homes with alternative accommodation in Qawra.

Residents of Triq Ħal Dgħejf have also offered a helping hand to those worst hit by the explosion and various people are assisting by donating essential items, such as clothes, to those who lost everything.

A total of €2,178 (Lm935) was collected for the Sammut family during Mass held on Friday, Our Lady of Sorrows feast, and at the end of the Lenten talks for youth at Jesus of Nazareth Church in Sliema, among others.

Anyone who wishes to help the Sammut family can deposit money in BoV account 4001 7055 396 (the Sammut family Naxxar accident fund) or HSBC account 0061 0918 5050.

Anyone who wishes to help the Bugeja family can deposit money in the BoV account 4001 7049 454 (the Bugeja family Naxxar accident fund).

This morning, a car boot sale will be held at Ir-Razzett tal-Ħbiberija between 6 a.m. and noon where people will be selling items and freshly-baked cakes to raise money for the Naxxar explosion victims.

Meanwhile, donors can help bring a smile to Gareth and Kirsty's face as they would love to have their bicycles back and really miss their computer.