An explosion rocks the Kirkop fireworks factory, the man is reported missing
Updated at 9.50am
A man is still missing after a fireworks factory exploded in Kirkop on Saturday morning, in explosions that were heard across the country.
The Police, the doctors and the firefighters of the Department of Civil Protection were all called to the fireworks factory of San Júzepp in Triq Hal Far shortly after 7am to respond to the explosions.
A man who was believed to be inside the factory at the time of the explosion had not yet been given an account by 9.45am.
Sources said Times of Malta that the 63-year-old had recently returned to handling fireworks after retiring from the hobby some years ago.
Another man, who was working in the fields nearby when the explosion went off, was treated for minor injuries caused by debris from the explosion.
The Mayor of Safi Johann Mula and the minister Julia Farrugia Portelli, who is from nearby Żurrieq, both said on Facebook that people were working inside the factory at the time of the explosion.
Rescue efforts were delayed by a number of small explosions that continued to be reported inside the stricken building, well over an hour after the initial explosions.
Efforts were further complicated by bad weather, which is expected to worsen as the day progresses. Forecasters warned of thunderstorms and “torrential” rain on Saturday.
People reported hearing two separate explosions – a small one followed by a much larger one that left the windows shaking.
Footage taken from near Malta International Airport and provided to Times of Malta it showed a great gray smoke rising into the air.
A resident of Kirkop reported a “vague smell of sulphur” in the air. A passenger at the airport said the explosion “shaken the entire terminal building.”
The explosion was heard in significant areas of the country, which stretches from Marsaxlokk to Naxxar and even Tas-Sliema.
It is the second explosion in a fireworks factory reported this year, after an explosion in June in a factory on the outskirts of Mosta. he left two men wounded.
More to follow
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