A fireworks salute was fired this afternoon to mark the start of the funeral of five of the six victims of the fireworks factory explosion in Gharb on Sunday week.
Flags flew at half mast as a cortège with the five coffins made its way down the narrow streets from Victoria to Fontana parish church.
Nenu Farrugia, 67, owner of Farrugia Fireworks Factory, his sons Raymond, 38 and Noel, 31, daughter-in-law Antoinette, 27, and son-in-law Peter Paul Micallef, 35, died in the powerful explosion, which also claimed the life of Jean Pierre Azzopardi of Xewkija.
The tragedy was the worst since seven servicemen died on a patrol boat as it was sailing off Comino to dump fireworks into the sea 26 years ago.
The joint funeral is the biggest in Gozo since the sinking of a luzzu at Hondoq ir-Rummien almost 62 years, when 23 people, most of them Gozitans, lost their lives.
Nenu's widow, Mary, who will not be attending the funeral, threw white flowers from a first floor balcony as the coffins were lined up outside her house, while people applauded, some with tears in their eyes.
The coffins were then taken into the Church and placed before the altar, with pictures of the victims on top of them.
The funeral Mass is being led by Fontana parish priest Fr Guzepp Bajada.
Fr George Bezzina, a former parish priest of Fontana and close friend of the victims, in his homily spoke on the example set by Job in the Bible and said the people needed to recover from this tragedy and not to give up. Recovery, he stressed, did not mean arguments which were useless and could hurt.
Fr Bajada stressed the value of life and said that all responsible people should ensure that conditions were safe in all places of work. Youths, he said, should realise the value of life and be careful in their driving. They should not abuse alcohol and drugs.
His heart, he said, ached for the loss of life of these victims, but also the many other people who lost their life. But it was important, now, for the survivors to reflect on how they would live their own life.
This, Fr Bezzina said, was not an addio but an arrivederci.
The widows of Ray Farrugia and Peter Paul Micallef, Tiberia and Charmaine, as well as Antoinette's parents and other relatives of the victims took up the offerings, while Raymond's young son Luca was among those who read the bidding prayers.
President George Abela led the congregation with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Opposition leader Joseph Muscat.
Poems written for the occasion were read at the end of the Mass and the coffins were carried out of the Church by relatives and friends of the victims, amid long applause and more tears.