Italian firefighters said yesterday there is little hope of finding any survivors from Tuesday’s explosion at the Enel hydroelectric plant on Lake Suviana.
Three people are officially declared dead following the blast with five injured and four still unaccounted for.
“We are not working with much hope of finding the missing people alive,” said Fire Brigade Communications Director Luca Cari. “The scenario we have in front of us does not give us the idea this is likely”.
The confirmed victims of the disaster were 36, 45 and 73 years old.
The search for the missing is hampered by the fact there is lots of rubble and many areas are flooded after a turbine exploded.
The CGIL trade union said Wednesday that it had not yet been possible to ascertain who the victims of the explosion were employed by. Bologna CGIL Secretary Michele Bulgarelli said that two of the three people who were seriously injured were Enel employees.
“What is serious is that we do not know which companies the external workers were employed by,” Bulgarelli said.
“We found out that one (of the victims) is a 73-year-old pensioner with a VAT number (for the self-employed). What kind of world of work is this?”
Prosecutors open investigation
Bologna prosecutors have opened an investigation into the Lake Suviana Enel hydroelectric power plant disaster. They are considering possible charges of causing a disaster and culpable manslaughter, legal sources said Wednesday.
Seven people are feared to have been killed in Tuesday’s explosion and flooding, while five others are severely burnt.
A worker at the plant, who was outside at the time of the explosion, Pierfrancesco Firenze, told his wife, Emilia Ferdighini, “I saw the flame and then the smoke, I heard the blast.”
