UNITED KINGDOM – A building collapsed on Monday at Didcot Power Station located in south Oxfordshire, England. The event left, at least, one dead and five wounded who are already at the hospital. Three people are currently missing.
Emergency officials are conducting search operations, said area manager Mat Carlile, from Thames Valley Fire Control Service. The collapse occurred at a former coal-fired plant that was in the process of being knocked down, after it closed in 2013, wrote reporters at the Daily Mail.
Fortunately, there were not noxious materials in the building, said the fire service, which recommended people to stay indoors with the windows closed while the situation is controlled because dust and debris generated by the collapse have covered nearby areas.
Daily Online said that fire engines from Oxfordshire, specialist search units, and Thames Valley Police officials were at the scene after emergency services were notified of the collapse at 4 p.m. local hour. Six ambulances and two helicopters were being used in the search.
Officials told the Press Association that workers were preparing two boilers for the demolition, that was supposed to take place in the next weeks, this could have led to the collapse of the building.
Injured people are being cared in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Officials from the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that people in the area should avoid attending the emergency department “unless suffering serious or life-threatening emergencies”, said Daily Online.
“We are aware of an incident at #Didcot A Power Station. We are working with all Stakeholders to establish facts and will keep you updated,” wrote Coleman Demolition, one of the contracted companies in charge of the demolition.
According to David Cooke, who works nearby the area of the collapse, in a Thames Cryogenics building, the main turbine of the building collapsed causing a “huge pile of dust”. As a response, the building where he was standing started to shake. He said to the Mail Online that the dust obscured the place for around five to 10 minutes.
Didcot A opened in 1970, but it ceased its operations in March 2013 when three of its cooling towers were demolished. Later in 2014 a major fire occurred at Didcot B. On Tuesday evening a spokesman for RWE Npower, the energy company, said that their thoughts were with the families and people involved in the tragedy.
Source: The Daily Mail