Gozo is in shock and mourning after the death on Sunday of four fireworks enthusiasts – Nenu Farrugia, 67, the factory owner – his son and daughter-in-law, all from Fontana, and Jean Pierre Azzopardi, 27 of Xewkija.

The married couple, Noel and Antoinette Farrugia, aged 31 and 27 respectively, were expecting their first child.

Two other persons who were at the factory at the time of the accident, Raymond Farrugia, 38, and Pawlu Micallef, 35, also of Fontana, are in danger of dying. They are suffering from 80 per cent burns.

Raymond is factory owner Nenu’s son and Pawlu his son-in-law.

The explosion took place at around 6.10pm on Sunday. The circumstances that led to the explosion are not known, however, a number of trucks loaded with fireworks had been on site. An amount of the material had just been shipped from Malta to Gozo in barges and stored on site.

Most of the material was to be let off during the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, to be celebrated in Xaghra this week. A band march was cancelled on Sunday. However, the feast is expected to go ahead as planned.

The fireworks complex, trucks, vehicles and equipment were reduced to ruins. Pieces of metal and debris were scattered all across the open countryside in the area known as Birbuba close to the St Dimitri chapel in Gharb.

Officials from the Civil Protection Department, police and Accident and Emergency teams rushed to the scene. Volunteers from the Red Cross Society also proved to be of great help to the officials in calming the situation and providing lighting equipment for the search to continue into the night.

The pungent smell of burnt material was still evident yesterday morning and police sources said fireworks were still exploding by the time the search for Nenu’s body continued and was completed successfully early in the morning, when the body was found. The other three victims had been found on Sunday evening.

“This was the worst tragedy for our community in history,” said Fontana mayor Saviour Borg when contacted. Catching his breath in between sobs, Mr Borg explained he too is related to the Farrugia family and Nenu had been his godfather.

“I was brought up with them,” he said. Nenu’s family had brought up the mayor’s mother, who was an orphan.

“They were an exemplary family in Fontana,” he said. “We will dearly miss their loss and their work for the community and the parish.”

In fact, the parish will be celebrating its centenary anniversary next year and a fireworks festival was planned for 26 March.

“He was really looking forward to it,” said the mayor while noting it will obviously not be held.

Mr Borg pointed out that Nenu and his two brothers, both over 65, as well as their sons, had been manufacturing fireworks since they were children. Their father and the father’s brother too had died in a fireworks factory explosion, the mayor said. Nenu’s father had been from Tarxien and moved to Gozo some 70-80 years ago, when he got married.

“The Gozitan fireworks tradition started with him,” the mayor, as well as fireworks enthusiasts who were at the scene of the explosion, said yesterday morning.

Nenu’s brothers had just left the factory at the time of the explosion because they had completed what they had to do. They had not reached home when the factory blew up. Nenu too had just spoken to his wife on the phone and promised her he would leave in 10 minutes.

“It was written this way,” close friends of the victims reflected as they went through what was left of their cars, reclaiming personal documents.

“They were the fathers of Gozitan fireworks,” “pioneers” and “among the best in the trade both in Malta and in Gozo”, they said, standing dumbfounded.

“Nenu had planned to join me watching the Zurrieq fireworks yesterday evening,” one man said. “In fact, I thought he had called to ask where I was when I got the news.”

They explained that the Farrugia family did not like experimenting and always used materials they were sure about. He (Nenu) used to get angry whenever we joked about producing larger fireworks we saw at some other feast, they explained.

“God loved us… that’s the story,” they said, not believing they had escaped the tragedy.

Duty magistrate Paul Coppini has appointed several experts to assist him in an inquiry.

This was the fifth fireworks factory explosion this year. Other explosions took place in Qormi, Zejtun, Gharghur, and Mosta claiming the lives of eight persons so far. The circumstances of Sunday’s accident were similar to that of the Dwejra explosion in the limits of Mosta only three weeks ago, when fireworks were being loaded onto trucks to be transported in nearby fields before being let off for Santa Marija.

Meanwhile, the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry yesterday appointed a board of inquiry to identify the potential causes of such accidents and make recommendations for better safety at fireworks factories. (See separate story)

In a statement yesterday, Gozo Channel expressed sorrow after the tragedy and noted that fireworks are not shipped on its vessels, this is done by private means of sea transportation.