A 15-month-old girl was among five people injured on Thursday when they were burnt by a petard during the Xewkija feast.

The incident happened at around 11.30pm during an event leading up to this weekend’s St John the Baptist feast in the Gozitan locality.

Sources said the 15-month-old girl was in her pushchair, accompanied by her parents, who live in Malta, when a petard from scaffolding set up in a nearby field shot in their direction.

The petard landed on the pushchair’s hood, with a burning splinter landing on the father’s arm. Other piping hot parts of the petard landed on another man and woman who were standing close by. Panic struck when people saw the burning flame on the pushchair with the child inside.

The three adults and the child were hospitalised and treated for burns. The child’s mother had to be hospitalised to be treated for severe shock.

The incident happened as the band was passing through Triq l-Indipendenza.

The petards were placed on the scaffolding as part of a pyrotechnics show synchronised with music.

Sources said that had the pushchair’s hood not been opened, the petard would have landed on the child’s face while she slept. Police investigations, led by Police Inspector Bernard Spiteri, are under way.

Duty Magistrate Paul Coppini was informed of the incident and subsequently appointed a number of court experts to assist with the magisterial inquiry.

Sources said that despite the incident, the rest of the activities planned for this weekend will continue.

The feast of St John the Baptist in Xewkija includes band marches and entertainment on the streets, concerts by the local Prekursur brass band, as well as horse racing.

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