Pyrotechnic association dodges questions about uninsured fireworks factory, passes buck to police

The President of the Malta Pyrotechnic Association (MPA), former health minister Godfrey Farrugia, dodged The Shift’s questions about how a fireworks factory listed on its website was allowed to operate without insurance, despite its own claims that such factories “have to abide by very strict regulations.”

Citing the ongoing magisterial inquiry into the fireworks factory that exploded on 1 June, the MPA claimed it was “premature” to answer questions about how one of its members was allowed to operate without insurance.

The MPA was equally tight-lipped about how the factory’s licence holder was allowed to retain his licence despite already being convicted of negligence related to a fireworks incident.

“The authority that regulates the issuance of all licences and permits for fireworks is the police force. The association has no say in this matter. The direction and execution of such decisions is regulated by the Explosives Ordinance Act and subsidiary legislation,” Farrugia said.

Besides refusing to comment on the Lourdes factory, Farrugia also refused to discuss whether the uninsured factory was an isolated incident or whether there were other uninsured disasters waiting to happen.

The association also refused to take a stand on whether it was fair for taxpayers to shoulder costs for damages caused by negligent operators.

The relevant authorities have so far maintained radio silence about the industry’s regulatory gaps, despite an incident that shook the nation, left dozens of farm animals injured or dead, harvests destroyed and traumatised people within the blast’s 2km impact radius.

Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa’ refused to disclose who, in the police corps, was responsible for renewing Saliba’s licence, with the request for comment instead being passed on to the police’s media unit. The unit did not reply by publication time.

The Office for the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, responsible for regulating the administration of voluntary groups, also did not respond to The Shift’s questions about what kind of oversight, if any, the office carries out.

Voluntary Organisations Minister Julia Farrugia and Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo also declined to comment on the subject.

The aftermath

Speaking on behalf of the Malta Youth in Agriculture Foundation (MaYA), activist and farmer Jeanette Borg told The Shift that “the suffering that’s been caused” among the community is “significant”.

“There are a lot of people still suffering from shock… for the first few days, we didn’t even know what to tell farmers who were contacting us. Eventually, the Agriculture Ministry’s Permanent Secretary told us that any farmers seeking compensation or support should reach out,” she said.

AgriConnect, an internal ministry body originally responsible for helping farmers maintain compliance with demanding EU regulations, has repeatedly been repurposed to assist farmers in times of crisis. In this case, compensation is being offered, which means taxpayers are picking up the tab.

Despite the service on offer, the agriculture ministry has not publicly disclosed whether any comprehensive testing is being carried out to determine whether produce grown by farmers in the vicinity of the blast is usable. MaYA Foundation did not receive any information, either.

“I think the broader problem with food safety in Malta’s context is that we are not asking the right questions about how to handle this kind of pollution, and that we are not thinking critically about how consistent this exposure is. The cumulative damage caused by various air and soil pollutants is not being tackled as a whole,” Borg contended.

The agriculture ministry reportedly sent out letters to several farmers in the area ordering them to dispose of their produce, leading to a surge of calls from confused, angry farmers to groups like MaYA.

Expert explains the problem

Professor Alfred Vella, the former Rector of the University of Malta and one of the nation’s foremost chemists, explained to The Shift how the contamination perimeter for such a blast would be established.

“Products of explosion of main concern here would be those of a particulate type, and not gaseous. These initially spread out roughly spherically for a certain lateral distance determined by the force of the explosion, which depends on the explosive load, or the quantity of explosive material involved,” Vella said.

“The explosion’s smoke plume will continue to disperse by wind action, and the movement will also be influenced by other atmospheric conditions. In the absence of definite information about quantities and so on, one would model the system based on reasonable assumptions to obtain a rough estimate of the impact area,” he added.

In simpler terms, experts can calculate how far the dust produced and dispersed by the explosion would have travelled, even without knowing the exact quantity of explosives on site.

Vella explained how “post-explosion” residues could include metallic and/or organic compounds and unburnt fuels, noting that the product is chemically complex and that targeted sampling would only be carried out if there was reason to believe specific, concerning compounds were present.

“My advice would be to always wash the greens one buys with copious amounts of tap water, especially before eating them raw. Soil particulates, as may be present on the surface of vegetables, are always loaded with bacterial and other organic matter that is not safe to consume,” Vella said.