Qormi fireworks enthusiasts insists they stuck to deal

The fireworks association of St Sebastian parish in Qormi said that before letting off fireworks from the Marsa golf club it always gave the management a detailed programme of the pyrotechnic displays.

Whenever the St Sebastian Fireworks' Association let off fireworks from the area it did so according to a contract signed between the government and the Marsa Sports Club, association secretary Jesmond Aquilina said.

He was reacting to comments by the club, which said that the fire which engulfed its locker rooms on Saturday night might have been caused by fireworks from the Qormi feast.

The association stressed that the fireworks displays were covered by the necessary police permits and were let off from a distance of 212 metres from the golf club's locker rooms.

According to the contract, the association lets off fireworks on January 20, Easter and during the July festivities of St Sebastian. It said it always informed the club of the schedule and the club ensured no one was on the golf course when fireworks were let off.

Although the club cleaned up afterwards, the association paid for the job as per the agreement signed.

The club, which hosts the Royal Malta Golf Club, on Tuesday applied for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction calling on the court to stop a pending application by the Sta Venera feast enthusiasts to let off fireworks from the same place. The court provisionally upheld the request and put off the final decision to tomorrow, the day before the festivities start.