Neighbours could not believe anyone would have reason to hurt 60-year-old Philip Cini, who was targeted by a parcel bomb at his Qormi residence yesterday.

According to an eye-witness account, Mr Cini risks losing his left hand and some fingers on the right hand and suffered severe injuries to the left side of his torso. The police later confirmed Mr Cini had sustained serious injuries and was in danger of dying.

The bomb went off when Mr Cini was unwrapping the book-shaped package, which, according to neighbours, was addressed to him and had been deposited outside his house.

However, police sources said it was still too early for them to determine whether the parcel was posted or placed outside the family's house.

Mr Cini's wife and his eight-year-old nephew were also in the house when the blast occurred but suffered no injuries. The incident happened at about 1.30 p.m. in St Edward Street, close to the health centre.

His wife was heard telling neighbours she had advised her husband not to open the package.

Martin Galdes, a grocer who owns a shop across the street from Mr Cini's first-floor maisonette, was the first to reach the scene of the explosion and carry the victim downstairs.

The shopkeeper ran out of his outlet after hearing the blast, which blew out the aluminium balcony door of the house and shattered the glass panes of the windows leading onto the street.

"I saw smoke coming out from Philip Cini's house, which is above the garages. I ran upstairs and started calling Philip's name. Amid the thick smoke I saw his wife Dolly crying and Philip on the floor. I lifted him and tried to find my way out of the building. As soon as we were outside, an ambulance was passing by, probably on its way to the polyclinic just up the road, and it took him to hospital," a distraught Mr Galdes recounted.

Shocked by what he saw, Mr Galdes said he could not understand what could have led someone to deliver a parcel bomb. "Philip is a jovial character and I do not recall him ever having any problems with neighbours," he said.

Mr Cini has two daughters and is grandfather of three. He worked at his brother's food packaging company, C. Cini and Sons Ltd, known mostly for its Lamb brand products.

The police, accompanied by the Civil Protection Department and the Armed Forces of Malta's bomb disposal unit, were on site to carry out investigations. At one point Police Commissioner John Rizzo was also present.

Neighbours were stunned by the blast, which bore similarities with the tragic events of 1977 when a letter bomb killed 15-year-old Karin Grech on December 28.

At the time the explosion took place at the height of the doctors' strike. Young Karin, who was the daughter of Edwin Grech who worked at St Luke's Hospital, died of similar injuries to her limbs and torso.