A 26-year-old man from Mosta was critically injured after an explosion at a fireworks factory in Bidnija yesterday afternoon.

Mario Farrugia was taken to hospital by ambulance and is believed to have suffered burns on 90 per cent of his body.

According to sources, he was mixing what is known as flash powder before the explosion occurred. Two other men from Mosta, Guzeppi Mangion, 81, and Edmond Saliba, 39, who were also inside the fireworks factory, were treated in hospital for minor injuries.

Eight people were at the factory when the blast occurred, but the majority escaped with superficial injuries.

Members of the police, the Civil Protection Department and a medical team were on site within minutes of the explosion.

The plant is surrounded by a high rubble wall containing several rooms.

It was in one of the rooms within the area that the blast occurred, and consequently part of the wall collapsed.

The fireworks factory, which produces fireworks for the feast of Santa Marija in Mosta, is located on an asphalt road leading from Mgarr to Bidnija. It is in the vicinity of residences and surrounded by farmers' fields. The area is also widely used by people for country walks.

There were small fires in several areas, and bystanders were cleared from the area because of fears of unexploded petards.

The men who were inside the fireworks factory at the time of the blast played down the incident. They argued with the police and reporters, saying they were blowing the incident out of proportion.

They were even angry that the ambulance left the scene sounding its sirens, saying it was all part of a conspiracy against their hobby, in spite of the fact that one of the men inside was in a critical condition.

"Now this incident will be used against us. Isn't it enough that we are already having a hard time doing what we love to do?" one of the men said, as he waved off a cameraman from a TV station.

A resident who spoke to The Sunday Times said yesterday's blast was an accident waiting to happen and it was sheer luck that more people, including third parties, were not injured.

"If the people working the fields had been there at the time, or the people who regularly visit the area, it could have been worse. We are tired of this and our complaints about such a hazard in our vicinity have fallen on deaf ears," he said.

The law states that signs are to be put up at a distance of 200 metres from each factory on every road, lane or path leading to the factory - but signs leading to the plant were conspicuous by their absence, except for one in the vicinity of the plant.

The Explosive Ordinance (Cap. 33) also dictates that the factory must be at a distance of not less than 183 metres from any inhabited place, any street that may be used regularly for the passage of motor vehicles or any other street in which it is deemed that a factory would not be advisable.

Residents in the area told The Sunday Times that this particular fireworks factory has been at the centre of a court case initiated way back in the early 1990s. According to police historian Eddie Attard, there have been 58 fatalities due to fireworks explosions since 1980.

The most recent fireworks explosion took place in Ghaxaq on the night of September 24, which brought down a boundary wall but caused no injuries.