Two men died tragically on Monday night as the St Sebastian fireworks factory in Qormi blew up. A number of men were slightly injured, but two were trapped under the rubble after a huge explosion which was felt all over Malta.

This, of course, is not the first time we have seen such incidents and it is not the first time that people have been killed. In fact, it happens almost every year. Time and time again, we print the same editorial. We speak about the lives that have been needlessly lost, again and again, like in this instance.

But does anything every happen? The answer is no. Something must be done. Carrying on the way we do, where men head to a hastily constructed factory to mix explosives with their bare hands is asking for it.

Malta is a humid country, and it is a well-known fact that damp fireworks and explosives are volatile and known to go off at the least of sparks. Yet we carry on with the same old antiquated and dangerous practices.

Fireworks enthusiasts have told us time and time again that they take the utmost precautions in manufacturing their wares. But we will have to ask... how can they say this? Tens of people have died in the past decade due to fireworks just blowing up while they are being manufactured. So the conclusion must be that firework manufacturing is not safe at all, at least not the way we do it here in Malta. There is also another hypothesis, if the manufacturers are doing all they can to be safe, then firework making is simply too dangerous and should be banned. One cannot have their cake and eat it too. It is one of the two above mentioned situations – it is either too dangerous, or safety procedures are not being observed.

The authorities really need to get their finger out on this issue and deal with it once and for all. Fireworks are part and parcel of Maltese culture and they will remain so. But for God’s sake, how many more people have to die? We understand that it is a labour of love for the people who are involved in this ‘hobby’, but we will again ask, how many more people have to die?

There is also the issue of fireworks factories blowing up in the vicinity of other buildings. There are also cases which have been dragging on in court for years, along with judicial letter after judicial letter filed against the owners of such buildings by worried residents.

We must also point out that the factory which exploded yesterday is more or less on the flight-path leading to the Malta International Airport. Stranger things have indeed happened.

Some time back, the authorities were planning and plotting a way in which to produce fireworks collectively in safe conditions that will be subject to rigorous and regular inspections. We ask what has become of these plans and we urge the government to broker an agreement which will lead to the safer production of fireworks.

As things stand, we have a situation where we are watching people get involved in a very dangerous practice that leads to deaths on an almost yearly basis. Something must be done and something must be done quickly, before something even more serious happens.