Mr Pater's co-director, Ruud Bakker, has not yet been found.

Cars were incinerated by the blast

Two criminal investigations have been launched into the blast - one into whether regulations on storing fireworks had been broken and another into possible arson.

City authorities say SE Fireworks had all the necessary permits to store the estimated 100 tonnes of fireworks that exploded, and the two directors said soon after the disaster that they would assist any investigation.

The depot had been inspected less than a week before the blast.

Funeral

The funerals of two firefighters who died trying to control the blaze which followed the explosion were held on Friday.

Two more will be buried on Saturday.

Local residents have been repairing damage

"Four of us did not return," read a condolence message in the national daily newspaper de Volkskrant.

"We are stirred, immensely saddened and barely realise what has happened."

Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and Crown Prince Willem Alexander led a silent procession in memory of the victims after the funerals.

Revised toll

Authorities on Friday reduced the confirmed death toll from 18 to 17, but said 13 local residents remained missing.

The emergency services said the death toll had been revised downwards because human remains pulled from the rubble had frequently been fragments which were difficult to piece togther.

There were 946 people injured, 29 of whom remain in hospital.

Forensic experts probe the blast site

A residential district was devastated by the explosion, with more than 400 homes destroyed, leaving more than 1,000 people homeless in one of the worst accidents in the Netherlands since the end of World War II.

Earlier this week authorities were hunting for up to 200 people unaccounted for after the explosion.

Much of the confusion over the exact number of missing was due to outdated municipal registers and people sometimes being registered under several names.

A section of the residential area surrounding the warehouse remains sealed off, although many of the inhabitants outside that area have returned to their homes.