Almost a year after an inquiry was set up to look into the materials being used for fireworks, the country is none the wiser as to what caused a series of tragic explosions last year.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat highlighted this fact yesterday as he was interviewed on One Radio.
Speaking about various issues of national security, he mentioned the delayed inquiry and called for it to be wrapped up.
“This is something that worries me. We are in the peak of festa season but nothing has been concluded yet. I know this is an independent inquiry but we need it to be concluded as soon as possible,” he said.
Dr Muscat, whose father imports fireworks, last year put forward a number of proposals to improve the safety of fireworks production. After a series of tragic accidents, he had written an article where he spoke of his constant fear that his father would end up being one of the many victims of this national obsession.
The inquiry board was set up last September by the Home Affairs Ministry after a massive explosion killed six people and razed a fireworks factory in the limits of Għarb. The ministry had said at the time it expected the board to conclude its investigation in “the shortest time possible”.
The Għarb explosion was the second deadly accident in less than a month. In August, a man died when a fireworks factory exploded in the limits of Mosta. There were three other fireworks explosions last year, in which three men lost their lives.
This year there have been no explosions but as the festa season gets underway and the summer heats up, the dangers are ever-present.
Early last month, inquiry board chairman Alfred Vella, from the University’s chemistry department, said the board hoped to hand in its conclusions by not later than the end of summer. He explained that the board was looking into all the incidents of the past 20 years to try and establish a pattern. There were also tests that had to be carried out abroad.
The other board members are chemist Servolo Delicata, biologist Victor Axiak and veteran fireworks enthusiast Joe Theuma.
The Times yesterday asked the Home Affairs Ministry what was taking the inquiry so long and whether there are any preliminary findings which should be made known to the public to reduce dangers.
The Times also asked for the ministry to respond to criticism that while the inquiry was taking so long to be concluded, fireworks manufacturing continued as normal despite the unanswered questions.
The questions remained unanswered.