Internal Enemalta inquiry to establish gas hob explosion

Preparing breakfast for her eight-month-old daughter, Marcelle Montanaro switched on the gas hob when an explosion blasted the appliance out of the kitchen counter.

"Thank God I was not holding my daughter at the time," she said, standing beside the appliance that, according to her husband, George, could have killed the whole family when the explosion occurred last Thursday.

It emerged that the incident was caused by a defective gas cylinder according to the Liquigas representative who went to their house in Birkirkara to check the cylinder after Thursday's explosion.

The family filed a judicial protest demanding damages on Tuesday. They say their claims were ignored and people kept referring them to others when they tried to make a formal complaint.

The judicial protest was filed against the chairmen of Enemalta Corporation, Liquigas Limited, the Health and Safety Authority and the Malta Resources Authority.

Enemalta said when contacted it had contacted Mr Montanaro and a meeting was arranged.

Mr Montanaro said the Liquigas representative who visited their house told him the cylinder had been pressurised twice above the limit of three bars. What was even more shocking, he added, was that this was not the first time the technician had been sent to check out similar problems in other homes.

The technician also discovered that a second cylinder belonging to the family was also over pressurised to five bars, Mr Montanaro said in the judicial protest.

An Enemalta spokesman said preliminary information provided to corporation by the client indicated that the problem seemed to be related to the regulator and not to the cylinder being overfilled.

An internal investigation to establish the cause of the incident is under way.

Meanwhile, speaking at her home, Ms Montanaro said the night before the explosion, the family had cooked dinner using the hob fed by the faulty cylinder. In retrospect, what had struck Mr Montanaro was that the flame was bright red instead of blue, otherwise everything seemed normal.

The family went to sleep and, in the morning, Ms Montanaro detected a smell of gas and informed her husband. However, they did not give it a second thought and went about their business.

Her husband was already at work when the explosion happened and she immediately called him, her voice trembling in shock asking him to go home.

Mr Montanaro said that when he went to complain at the Liquigas offices, located in the same building as Enemalta, they referred him to Enemalta as the company responsible but the corporation referred him back to Liquigas.

These entities were supposed to ensure such incidents did not repeat themselves and they should make good for any damages caused because their negligence could have cost lives, the family said.

Lawyer Anna Mallia signed the protest.