A 23-year-old man suffered facial burns on Sunday night while letting off fireworks from the roof of the Presidential Palace in Valletta as part of the carnival celebrations.

The man, an electrician from Fgura, suffered burns as he let off petards at around 8pm. He was not in possession of a licence to do so, sources said.

A man suffered facial burns while letting off fireworks from the roof of the Presidential Palace. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The activity did have a police permit but according to the fireworks code, it is illegal for unlicensed persons to let off fireworks.

The police said yesterday they were investigating the incident and expected to arraign persons in court.

Sources said the licensee who was entrusted by the Malta Arts Council to let off the fireworks was not present at the time of the accident.

It was reported to the police and an investigation by the health and safety authorities is underway, this newspaper can confirm.

The Presidential Palace immediately distanced itself from Sunday’s accident.

It said its role was only to grant permission to the arts council to use the roof of the Palace.

The chairman of the carnival organising committee, Jason Busuttil, categorically denied that an accident connected to fireworks had taken place.

“I know nothing on this and nothing of the sort happened,” Mr Busuttil said when contacted.

But the Ministry of Justice and Culture in a statement this morning confirmed the incident, saying the worker was only slightly hurt. It confirmed that the incident appeared to be linked to fireworks.

The chairman of the arts council, Albert Marshall, admitted that someone had been injured but played down the incident.

“Yes, there was an incident but the person involved had just a scratch”, he said.

Asked whether it was true that the person letting off fireworks did not possess the necessary licence, Mr Marshall said: “I don’t know… you’d better ask the ministry about this.”

Questions sent to Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, whose ministry is responsible for carnival celebrations, were not answered by the time of writing yesterday. He issued a tweet about the incident this morning. (See above)