A group of six ramblers were forced to take shelter under hunters’ hides last Sunday when the massive fireworks explosion rocked the tiny village of Għarb.
The ramblers could have doubled the number of victims if they had taken the other route available to them.
“If we had taken the main route, which passes by the factory, we would have been much closer and it would have been much more dangerous,” Stephen Cachia, the former deputy chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, told The Sunday Times.
He said the blast left a “shocking” and “apocalyptic” scene, with grassfires all around, concrete debris and pieces of car parts flying everywhere, as individual petards continued exploding. The ramblers were some 200 metres away from the factory.
However, he believes his group was spared thanks to a hillock that separated them from the factory, which caused the force of the blast to go in the opposite direction.
The group – which included Mr Cachia’s wife and doctor Andrew Baldacchino, who later lent a helping hand with the victims – were walking around the San Dimitri chapel, near the cliffs.
“It’s quite popular to walk around there because it’s a beautiful area,” Mr Cachia said.
“First, we heard a series of short, sharp shots of fireworks. Then there was a blinding flash and a huge explosion – all within a second. We jumped to the ground and then started to run until we found a couple of hunters’ hides, where we stayed until things calmed down.”
The short sharp bursts they heard initially sounded like the fireworks that are commonly set off on top of churches and at first he thought they formed part of a feast being held in the vicinity.
“We didn’t hear any screams... there wasn’t any time. It must have been hell for the people inside,” he said.
He said while the experience was very shocking it did not change his views about fireworks because he was always convinced that, while they form an important part of the Maltese culture, there must be strict control.
“If you speak to elderly people in Gozo they will tell you that in their time – even though there was supposedly less technology – there were never so many accidents in one year. I think some drastic action must be taken to establish what is going on.”