The bodies of the victims of the Didcot power station collapse may not be recovered for "many months", police have said.
Specialists have been working at the site using drones, sniffer dogs and robots for the past week but the structure is still considered too unsafe to gain access.
One person, named as Michael Collings, is confirmed dead - three others are still missing, believed to be trapped in the wreckage of the building.
Assistant Chief Constable Scott Chilton of Thames Valley Police said: "This will be an incredibly complex and difficult engineering operation.
"It will take many weeks and, in reality, more likely many months before we will be able to get access to those people that are trapped."
Some relatives of the victims have already visited the site in Oxfordshire and the police thanked them for their patience, Assistant Chief Constable Chilton added: "I can't imagine what it would be like to be in that situation, it is absolutely terrible.
"What we are doing through our family liaison officers is advising them step by step."
The decommissioned building known as 'Didcot A' was being prepared for demolition at the time of the collapse last month.
Five people were injured and more than 47 others were treated for dust inhalation in the accident.
Peter Baker from the Health and Safety Executive said: "Everyone is working very hard to identify the causes as quickly as possible and understanding what lessons can be learned."
No comments:
Post a Comment