The search and rescue team working in the disused quarry in Gharghur, where two large blasts completely destroyed a fireworks factory on Wednesday evening, found the bodies of two of the five missing men in the ruins of the buildings yesterday.

The first body – that of 34-year-old Sunny Borg from Birkirkara – was lifted from the quarry at about 9am, some two hours after the search and rescue operation resumed, while the second body was located at about 4.45pm, but could not be immediately identified.

Carmel Farrugia, Paul Bonnici, Richard Cardona and Vincent Galea were the other men reported missing after the blasts.

Only one of the men in the fireworks factory when the blasts occurred, at about 6pm on Wednesday, was rescued that evening.

The man, Joe Bonello,

was rushed to St Luke’s Hospital’s High Depen-

dency Unit with serious injuries to his head, right arm and left shoulder.

He was found to have suffered burns to 15 per cent of his body, but is in a stable condition.

The wait was long and painful for the families and friends of the missing men, because it was not possible to begin the search operation on Wednesday evening, due to a number of smaller, but still dangerous, explosions, caused by pyrotechnic flashes.

There was the slightly acrid smell of fireworks lingering in the area yesterday, as more explosives kept going off until late in the morning, and although the search and rescue operation was scheduled to begin at 6am, it actually began a little later to ensure that the risk was not too great for the personnel involved.

The police are currently working on the search along with a number of paramedics from St Luke’s Hospital, personnel from the Civil Protection Department and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit of the Armed Forces of Malta.

As members of the search and rescue operation tried overturning big stones with a mechanical shovel, fire engines were used to extinguish any fire, in the hope that fireworks would not continue going off.

The search for the missing men continued till yesterday evening, and is expected to resume this morning, since the site was still “vulnerable” at night, a senior police officer told this newspaper. However, members of the search and rescue operation were to be on stand-by at the site throughout the night.

Meanwhile, a source who said he belonged to the organising committee of St Helena’s feast in Birkirkara, which was scheduled for 19 August, told The Malta Independent that while it is highly likely that the feast will be not celebrated at all, it was expected that a final decision would be taken after the victims’ funerals had been held.

The St Helena fireworks factory does not belong to any of the band clubs, but is an independent factory. According to sources, until some time ago no fireworks were expected to feature in this year’s feast due to a dispute regarding the field from where fireworks were normally let off.

An agreement had only been reached about two months ago, so production was in full swing, as the fireworks enthusiasts were working hard to prepare enough fireworks in time for the feast.

* * *

Fourteen die in

fireworks-related

accidents between

1997 and 2006

Between 1997 and the first half of 2006, 14 people died and another 38 were injured in accidents caused directly or indirectly by fireworks, according to a study published by the Archbishop’s Curia’s Environment Commission in June last year.

This works out at an estimated rate of 14.8 accidents per million inhabitants – by far the highest rate in the Mediterranean region, and second in Europe only to Britain, which registers an annual rate of 17 accidents per million inhabitants.

In terms of individual villages, Zebbug tops the casualty list with 14 accidents in the past nine years, followed by Munxar, Mqabba and Cospicua. On the other side of the scale, the safest village festas to date include Gharb, Gharghur, Lija, Luqa, Mgarr and Siggiewi, none of which registered any injuries since 1997.

Most of the accidents (56 per cent) occurred in licensed fireworks factories, while 18 per cent involved the illegal manufacture of fireworks, most often in the home. Perhaps the most worrying factor is that 19 per cent of all accident victims were aged 16 or under, raising concerns about the apparently unmonitored conditions in which pyrotechnic enthusiasts are allowed to work.