Jason Azzopardi Reveals Judicial Protest By KPH Warning Of Danger A Year Before Marsa Fire
Lawyer Jason Azzopardi published the judicial protest filed by KPH Group to authorities warning that a disaster was inevitable a year before last Friday’s scrapyard fire in Marsa.
A judicial protest filed by the Milk Producers Cooperative (KPH) on 12th December 2024 shows the company had repeatedly raised alarm over what it described as “ongoing serious danger” posed by the JAC Steel scrapyard operating directly beside its animal-feed plant.
In the court filing, KPH accused the scrapyard operator of stacking large quantities of metal scrap and waste dangerously close to the dividing wall, damaging the structure, and placing workers in constant risk.
The cooperative documented multiple incidents in which metal beams and heavy debris allegedly fell into KPH’s premises, at times from several metres above ground. It also warned about cranes swinging materials over its property and about unsafe machinery handling scrap “in a way that caused material to fall” into the feed plant.
KPH told the court it had spent years working under “enormous pressure and continuous danger”, insisting that the scrapyard’s activities placed employee safety, machinery and food-production operations at risk.
The cooperative said authorities had inspected the site but took no concrete action, despite being repeatedly notified of the hazards.
“There is urgent need for this problem to be resolved before another tragedy occurs in our country,” the document reads.
Following last week’s blaze, KPH issued a public statement expressing gratitude to the Civil Protection Department, police, Transport Malta, LESA and other responders whose swift intervention, it said, prevented a “disaster of national scale”.
As one of Malta’s major animal feed producers, KPH warned that any severe damage to its operations would have had far-reaching consequences on livestock production and national food security.
With the judicial protest publicly revealed, pressure is mounting on authorities to explain why no action was taken despite documented warnings – and whether the fire could have been prevented.