One dead and three missing after collapse

Didcot: Part of power station destroyed in incident not believed to have been planned

One person has died and rescuers are searching for three people after a building collapsed at Didcot Power Station yesterday.

Emergency services were called to the site, in south Oxfordshire, at 4pm amid reports of an explosion.

Rodney Rose, deputy leader of Oxfordshire County Council, told the Oxford Mail: “I have been told there has been one fatality, but the rest is currently unknown. The fire service is there now and we are still trying to find out if this was a demolition.”

Mr Rose, who sits on a committee responsible for Thames Valley Fire Service, added: “At the moment this is being treated as a collapsed building, not an explosion, but there was a bang.”

Six ambulances and two air ambulances were sent to the scene, South Central Ambulance Service said.

A spokesman said: “We are describing it as a major incident.”

Five people were taken to hospital following the collapse.

Pictures showed part of a building missing, which appeared to be the former coal-fired Didcot A plant.

The plant closed in 2013 and hundreds gathered to watch three of its cooling towers being demolished.

First thought was, it didn’t look planned, followed by the thought that people are going to have been hurt DAVID COOKE

Pictures: PA and Sky. Smoke rises from the power station as the turbine hall collapses. Below: an image from Sky News which shows the crumpled mess left after the building was destroyed.