On Sunday afternoon I witnessed the latest in the long line of fireworks factory disasters in Malta and Gozo. My house is situated in the lower part of Trux Street, Għarb, and the whole building shook with the blast. It is fortunate that I had a number of windows and doors open at the time. Otherwise, I believe that considerable damage would have been caused.

Unacceptable that peaceful residents should have to live surrounded by this danger- Terry Shaw, Għarb

However, this is not the most important aspect of the sorry story of the primitive Maltese obsession with explosives. Far more tragic is the loss of life that has just happened again so needlessly. When is someone – like the government of the day – going to have the courage to do what urgently needs doing and totally ban the kind of fireworks production which is traditional here?

The current situation makes no sense and should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable that peaceful residents should have to live surrounded by this danger.

Another unpleasant aspect of this afternoon’s event is the unseemly rushing to the scene by people in cars treating the whole thing as a Sunday afternoon side show.

The road outside my house has been full of these ghoulish sightseers, many of them with small children, behaving as though they were at a village festa.

This afternoon’s experience leads me inevitably to question the maturity of Maltese and Gozitan society.