Major Incident Declared At Didcot Power Station In Oxfordshire

At least one person has died following the collapse of a building at Didcot power station in in Oxfordshire, UK.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue service have confirmed one person has died, five are injured and three are missing in the blast

Witnesses reported hearing a massive blast at the site before part of the building collapsed.

The incident occurred at the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire, around 70 miles (113 km) west of London.

The decommissioned Didcot plant closed in 2013 and demolition work had been taking place.

Thames Valley Police have confirmed officers were at the scene but have not released further details.

The BBC reports:

Oxfordshire County Council deputy leader Rodney Rose, who is on a committee responsible for the county’s fire service, 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.”

“At the moment this is being treated as a collapsed building, not an explosion, but there was a bang.”

Npower said it was investigating.

Twitter users have described an “explosion” as well as “loads of dust”.

Thames Cryogenics tweeted: “Big collapse just happened at Didcot Power Station. Loads of dust. Not sure if it was planned.”

Adrian Redhead, who lives about a quarter of a mile away said he had just got home from work after 16:00 when he heard a “massive noise”.

He said: “It sounded like a train had come off the rails. Sirens were all over the place. I looked outside and saw all the dust. There were loads of emergency vehicles.