Not even a statue was left standing this time round to witness the discovery of Nenu Farrugia, 67, whose body was spotted beneath the rubble of what once was his fireworks factory in Għarb.

The owner of the Farrugia Fireworks Factory, nestled between fields in the spectacular part of Għarb’s countryside known as Ta’ San Dimitri, was the fourth corpse to be recovered from the devastation left behind by Sunday’s explosion.

“He was always careful and good at what he did. I cannot understand what went wrong,” said Laurence Formosa, 61, who worked at the same fireworks factory before he got married.

“He was a good man. He was kind-hearted and always spared time to listen to people,” he continued, adding that Mr Farrugia took after his father, who was also an enthusiast.

“Nenu was always meticulous and good at mixing chemicals. I cannot believe that this happened to him,” added another enthusiast, who preferred to remain anonymous.

He compared Mr Farrugia to Twanny Farrugia, a mentor for many years of the fireworks community who enjoyed a solid reputation until he died when he was burnt in a flash at the Saint Michael’s Fireworks Factory, Lija, three years ago.

The search for Mr Farrugia, of Fontana, was called off when darkness fell on Sunday. It continued early yesterday morning and his lifeless body was discovered shortly after the search resumed.

Friends and colleagues gathered behind the police tape, some doubling back when the firemen emerged carrying a stretcher with a covered body on it.

On Sunday, three powerful blasts at 6.10 p.m. ripped through the sister island, with many reporting experiencing something that felt like an earthquake. As with the most recent fireworks factory blast in Dwejra, Malta, on August 13, everyone soon realised it was not an earthquake when a huge white plume of smoke billowed several storeys above the site.

The explosion completely destroyed the rooms in the compound and threw car parts and debris hundreds of metres away into the surrounding valley.

Petards, which continued exploding as police officers, soldiers and firemen searched for any survivors late into the evening, were still being removed yesterday morning.

The same fireworks factory had exploded five years ago, when eight of 10 rooms were wiped out but, luckily, no one was hurt and it had been rebuilt.

Mr Farrugia’s son, Noel, 31, and his pregnant wife Antinette, 27, who only got married last year, together with Jean Pierre Azzopardi, 27, also died in the blast.

His other son, Raymond, 32, and son-in-law Paul Micallef, 35, who both have young children, were critically injured after they were badly burnt. They are in intensive care, with relatives by their side.

The factory owner was the eighth person to die in a fireworks factory explosion since the beginning of the year, reigniting controversy over the manufacture of pyrotechnics.