Here's how those explosives which exploded got from Hal Ghaxaq to Gharb yesterday
For clarity’s sake, I’ve found out the exact details and you have them here.
A lorry was left at the Hal Ghaxaq fireworks factory on Saturday evening. The explosives were loaded onto it during the night, then at 5am yesterday, escorted by one policeman, it was driven by a man from Gozo, who crossed over to the main island for the purpose, to the former Gozo ferry jetty at Marfa – and not to the jetty now used by the ferry at Cirkewwa.
There the explosives were transferred to a privately-owned boat – not a barge – and ferried across the channel to Hondoq ir-Rummien (which, incidentally, should give us a bit of an idea as to where some of the opposition to the Hondoq ir-Rummien project comes from, but that’s a side issue).
On the same boat, there were explosives from San Bastjan in Qormi, from Qrendi and from the Lija factory, also bound for Gharb.
The explosives were unloaded at Hondoq ir-Rummien, still under the policeman’s supervision – though quite frankly, how a policeman can stop explosives from exploding is beyond me, though he can certainly keep innocent third parties at a safe distance, even if he risks his own life to do the job.
Another lorry was waiting down at the beach and the explosives were loaded onto it. Still with that policeman in attendance, it was driven to the fireworks factory in Gharb.
The fee for the police escort – between Hal Ghaxaq and Marfa only; I do not have copies of the receipts for the other legs of the journey – was EUR19.13.
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Are you sure it’s 19.13 euros for a police escort from Ghaxaq to Marfa?
[Daphne – Yes. I have a copy of the receipt.]
Local councils charge you a king’s ransom to hire a warden when you carry out road works.
[Daphne – Ah, but fireworks and hunting have heavy-hitting lobbies, don’t they.]
And was it a traffic policeman or did he stay in the cab with the driver? Jew fil-kaxxa?
[Daphne – I have no information on that yet.]
ok quite exactly and that s standard procedure for everyone carrying fireworks to gozo……as for the cause of yesterday s explosion my sources still tell me that it was while doing immursjar but i stand to be corrected………
‘Life is cheap’.
To make things clear, the fireworks from Ghaxaq, Lija, Qormi San Bastjan and Qrendi didn’t cause any explosion. They just happened to be at Gharb by pure coincidence and exploded because of what happened at the fireworks factory.
[Daphne – How do you know which ones exploded first?]
It doesn’t matter which exploded first or second but what caused the explosion.
Fireworks don’t explode spontaneously nor are explosions triggered by an increase in ambient temperature. Those are all myths. They have to be ignited.
If something was wrong with the chemicals or there was a mistake when the chemicals were mixed they would have exploded during production.
“Gozo ferry jetty at Marfa” close to two five star hotels!
imbad iridu nghidu li f’malta qedin nghixu bhal ewropej. Niftahru bil pagi li ghadna. Dan il povru pulizija issogra hajtu ghal qahba 19 il ewros biss. Rizultat ta kemm m’hawnx fejn taqla lira jew 2 ewros issa
[Daphne – Il-pulizija jibqa bil-paga. Dawk il-19 euros ma mmorrux ghandu.]
Jerry, perhaps, for a policeman it is difficult to make ends meet at the moment but apparently that’s not the case for fireworks chemicals importers and their sons.
Some Monseigneur parish priest from Gozo has decreed that the feast in Gharb will still be held in spite that four people died in this tragic event. I classify the Mons as out of touch with reality (putting it mildly).
The circus must go on.
You’re wrong, my friend — the feast at Gharb was celebrated in July.
Daphne, there were seven trucks full of explosives which were supposed to leave Hondoq at 6.30 but came late and left Hondoq at 8.
[Daphne – Bit difficult for them to leave Hondoq at 6.30am if they left Hal Ghaxaq, a 45 minute drive from Marfa, at 5am. 8am sounds just about right.]
My family and I were going swimming at Hondoq at about 8am in the morning on Sunday and there were about 6 closed vans coming up from Hondoq with a police car in front of them. I guess they were taking the fireworks to Gharb.
But no, there was no lorry, there were only closed vans.
[Daphne – Lorries can be closed too, you know.]
Yes, but a lorry is a lorry and a van is a van.
http://www.ghajnsielem.com/activities/10/august_27_morning.html
Those were the type of vans we saw.
[Daphne -Yes, those are vans.]
The factory was damaged from outside. Seeing aerial coverage you can see that the main road (trucks parked) is clear of debris. I have a feeling that whatever came off the truck blew up first.
How do you know where the trucks were parked? And how do you know which explosives blew up first?
All I can say is that experts, one of them Servolo Delicata, say that most probably the cause of the explosion is human error during the immursjar as Rene said earlier. The trucks happened to be there and made the tragedy much worse.
Highly unlikely that immursjar is being done at this stage of the fireworks season. The trucks were parked in the parking area, unless they surprised everyone and parked them on the roof.
What roads did they use from Ghaxaq / Qrendi / Kirkop / Qormi to Mtarfa? I am sure that at some point they drove through some residential areas. That scares me.
I like fireworks, have all respect for those people who are happy to risk their lives but endangering third parties is not acceptable.
When I go to buy petrol for my car, I often see signs which say “please switch off mobiles”.
The Times reported that Nenu Farrugia was talking to his wife on his mobile telephone and a few moments later the fireworks exploded.