The mother of a man who died in an explosion at work has said her life "stopped" on the day her son died.

Piotr Zukowski, from Southampton, died after being caught in a fireball at a military explosives manufacturer.

His mother, Elżbieta, said her life stopped when her son was killed while working on the production of MTV – an explosive substance used in military flares – at the premises of Chemring Countermeasures Limited in High Post near Salisbury.

Her son was cleaning a vessel used in its production and were removing explosive material when the fatal explosion occurred.

Piotr Zukowski died in an explosion at Chemring (Image: HSE)

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Elżbieta said: “At the time, I was on holiday in Greece with my younger, 13-year-old son Maks.

“Then, my son Piotr died at Chemring. That’s when my heart stopped.

“I don’t know how we got back, I don’t know how I survived the next weeks. It was and still is a nightmare.

“Piotr went to work, as usual, and never came back.

“I could give all my money, my life, only for my son Piotr, at least for a moment, to appear in this world, so that I could hug him, to see his smile, to hear his voice.”

Chemring has now been fined £670,000 after admitting health and safety failings in a hearing at Swindon Magistrates Court last month.

Piotr Zukowski and his motherPiotr Zukowski and his mother (Image: HSE)

Zukowski, 29, was partially inside the vessel when it exploded, killing him instantly.

Another man, Jake West, 32, sustained serious burns after being caught in the fireball.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Chemring failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

They had also failed to identify that explosive material was building up within work equipment, or to identify the sensitiveness of these explosives.

The company had not put in place controls to ensure that this build-up of material did not present a serious risk to workers.

The inspection also revealed that workers were poorly supervised, allowing routine non-compliance with process instructions to take place.

Shortcomings were also found with the company’s use of an explosive licence, granted b y HSE.

Explosive waste was stored in the corridor – contrary to the licence conditions – causing Mr West to be injured, despite not being in the room of the explosion.

Chemring Countermeasures pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

They were fined £670,000 and ordered to pay £12,835 costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector David Myrtle said: “This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young man. It could easily have been prevented.

“The failure to properly recognise the hazards posed by MTV throughout the production process, the unchecked build-up of waste MTV and a general lack of knowledge of good explosives practice meant the control measures in place were inadequate.”