Two bodies were unearthed from a fireworks factory in the limits of Gharghur yesterday in the wake of Wednesday's massive explosions, but three more men are still unaccounted for.

The body of a 33-year-old father of two, Sunny Borg, was the first to be recovered at about 9 a.m. from the St Helen's Fireworks Factory situated in a quarry at ix-Xwieki.

Two hours after he had been found, Mr Borg's father went on site to check if there was any news about his son, only to be informed that he had been taken to the hospital morgue.

A second body, yet to be identified, was discovered by civil protection workers and police at about 4.30 p.m., buried under piles of debris.

Mr Borg, Vincent Galea, Richard Cardona, Paul Bonnici and Carmel Farrugia were missing after a series of explosions that destroyed the factory on Wednesday. The sole survivor, Joe Bonello, is still in hospital.

The first blast went off at around 5.45 p.m., hurling debris hundreds of metres away and breaking windows and shutters in nearby villas.

A second explosion took place at 6.11 p.m. and was followed by a third shortly after.

However, only yesterday did the destruction wrought become truly apparent. A derelict farm building on the edge of the quarry where the fireworks factory was situated was completely demolished. Electricity pylons were uprooted. The site of the fireworks factory was a congestion of smashed and pulverised stones, dust, slabs of concrete and jagged pieces of metal.

Heavy duty equipment belonging to the army helped clear the debris and speed up the search. Clouds of dust erupted as the rubble was shovelled away. Minor explosions could be heard as fireworks went off from time to time. Fire engines sprinkled water over the debris in a bid to prevent further explosions.

Friends of the victims came and went, waiting for news, which was scant. The conversation shifted between talking about the victims and past accidents.

They discussed how Mr Borg had only been going to the factory for the past four months or so. The same could be said for Mr Farrugia, of Valletta, who had been frequenting it for some two and a half months. On Wednesday, he left work, at the Hilton Hotel, and went straight to the factory, according to a close friend.

Destiny, it seemed, wanted to spare several others, they observed. One man overslept before realising that his extra nap had saved his life. Two others left the factory some time before the first of the blasts shattered the peace of the rural neighbourhood.

Other fireworks enthusiasts who work at a private factory in the same quarry usually worked till about 7 p.m. but on Wednesday they started earlier and finished earlier, missing the explosions by about half an hour. Sources said that fortunately the fireworks factory's magazine did not explode, as a private fireworks factory in the same quarry would have exploded as well and the scale of the disaster would have been much greater.

An acrid smell of smoke hung in the air yesterday morning, more than 15 hours after the tragedy.

A former ambulance driver, who did not wish to be named, told The Times that on Wednesday he rushed to the scene on hearing the explosion.

"I started shouting to see if I could get any replies and saw Joe Bonello, staggering away. I realised he was badly hurt so I went in search of others. I counted four cars so I concluded there must have been eight men there, as I know they go in twos. I knew that two had left and one was still alive so I immediately concluded there had to be five others.

"There were four or five other people on the scene, trying to lend a hand. In the confusion, I know I told someone to take care of Joe Bonello. Then I started running around the smouldering ruins and shouting.

"I recognised Paul Bonnici's voice from under a heap of rubble. There were some other distant voices too coming from the debris. Then there was another big explosion. I ducked behind a rubble wall, and no one called anymore," he said.

As the day wore on, the searing heat and emotional stress took its toll on relatives and many left with a heavy heart. A few tried to hang on to some shred of hope, and they sat and waited, some seeking shelter from the fierce sun under the scanty shade of a fig tree. Others sat in their cars, with their engine running and air conditioners on.

Opposition leader Alfred Sant and Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo visited the scene. Staff from Appogg were also there consoling relatives.

This is not the first explosion at the St Helen's Fireworks Factory. Part of the complex went up in smoke on January 15, 2000, but nobody was injured.

On February 12, 1994, an explosion, claimed the life of Ninu Borg, 71, of Birkirkara. Mr Gauci, one of the missing men following Wednesday's explosion, was at the factory during that incident.

Sources familiar with the fireworks industry said the site at Xwieki was given to St Helen's Fireworks Factory and to a private fireworks factory in 1982 when the government wanted to relocate the factories, which were then at Tal-Qasbi, a site earmarked for residential dwellings.

The lease for the new site was renewed in 1992. It had 11 blocks of four rooms each, built by the British, and never conformed to the fireworks ordinance regulations. Moreover, the required distance from residential areas was not respected because a few villas in the area were already there when the factories were relocated in 1982.

To date, the largest fireworks factory explosion occured on January 15, 1970 at the St Joseph Factory in Ghaxaq, claiming five lives and seriously injuring four men.