This is the moment when a man is blasted out of a petrol tank like a missile being launched from an underground silo.

The unlucky technician was killed when he smashed into the roof of a nearby building and crashed through it onto the floor.

The blast – which also injured the man’s two colleagues – took place at a Lotos petrol station in Zgorzelec, Poland, on 20th January.

The explosion was so rapid and intense that it is impossible to make out the worker in this CCTV footage of the tragedy.

But media in Poland told how the unnamed technician – who was inside the underground tank performing cleaning work – was blasted into the air.

He landed on the roof of the adjoining convenience store and crashed through it onto the floor, dying on the spot.

The footage shows how two other workers standing over the underground tank were knocked over by the force of the blast.

They were both conscious when they were tended to by firefighters and taken to hospital to receive treatment for severe burns.

Polish media said the three men worked for a tank cleaning company from Bytom.

Magdalena Cwynar of the Provincial Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Wroclaw said: “The explosion happened after cleaning of the underground petrol tank was completed.

“It had a 25,000-litre capacity, it was empty, but vapours remained.”

The tank has since been filled with firefighting foam to prevent further explosions from happening.

Officials in Lower Silesia Province are now investigating the tragedy.