Fireworks blast victims’ funerals delayed to await DNA results

The autopsy carried out on Antinette Farrugia, one of the six victims of Sunday’s fireworks factory explosion in Għarb, has confirmed that she was not pregnant.

The preliminary post-mortem results also led to the postponement of the funerals because two of the victims – Jean-Pierre Azzopardi, 27, and Noel Farrugia, 31 – could not be identified due to the severity of the burns, police sources said.

The explosion at the Farrugia Brothers Factory rocked Gozo and wiped out an entire family: owner Nenu Farrugia, 67, his two sons Noel, and Raymond, 32, daughter-in-law Antinette, son-in-law Peter Paul Micallef, 35, and Mr Azzopardi, 27, a family friend.

The victims were at the factory where about €70,000 worth of fireworks were being kept for last Wednesday’s feast of Our Lady of Victory in Xagħra.

It had been planned that Mr Azzopardi, from Xewkija, would be buried today and the funeral of the Farrugias, from Fontana, was expected to be held tomorrow.

To be doubly sure about the identities, the authorities commissioned DNA tests on the two victims and were waiting for the results, the sources said.

Although no new date has been set for the funerals, these are expected to be held next week.