The funeral of the five members of the Farrugia family who died in the fireworks explosion in Gozo last Sunday will be held on Wednesday.

Family friend Jean-Pierre Azzopardi, 27, of Xewkija will be buried tomorrow. The funeral will take place in his hometown.

Nenu Farrugia, 67, his sons Raymond, 32, and Noel, 31, daughter-in-law Antinette, 27, and son-in-law Peter Paul Micallef, 35, will be laid to rest in Fontana 10 days after the explosion.

All six died when the family-owned Farrugia Brothers Fireworks Factory in Għarb blew up on September 5 at about 6 p.m.

The Farrugia family had planned to hold a collective funeral on Saturday and Mr Azzopardi’s burial was originally meant to take place on Friday. However, the funerals had to be postponed pending DNA tests. The remains of Mr Azzopardi and Noel Farrugia could not be identified due to the severity of the burns. The DNA results arrived yesterday and confirmed the identification of both victims. This led the inquiring magistrate to release the bodies for burial.

The funeral of Mr Azzopardi leaves from Gozo General Hospital at 4.30 p.m. tomorrow. The cortege, accompanied by the Prekursur band, will head to Xewkija parish church where Mass will be said at 5.30 p.m. followed by a private burial.

In the case of the Farrugia family, the funeral will leave the Gozo hospital at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The cortege will assemble at the church of Our Lady of Pompeii in Victoria and head for the Sacred Heart Sanctuary in Fontana where Mass will be said at 3.30 p.m. followed by private burial.

The family has invited those attending the funeral to join the corteges and attend Mass. An appeal has also been made so that, rather than flowers, donations will be made to a fund set up by the Fontana parish to help the victims’ families.