- Joined
- Nov 25, 2013
- Messages
- 68
- Points
- 0
Cheshire Explosions: Four People Missing
Police have declared a major incident as specialist teams wait to begin the search for workers who are still unaccounted for.
19:45 Friday 17 July 2015
Three men and a woman are missing after a fire and two explosions destroyed a wood flour mill in Cheshire.
All four have been identified but police say their names are not being released at this stage.
Cheshire Police have described it as a "major incident" and firefighters are not ruling out further blasts.
Search and rescue teams are waiting to enter the collapsed four-storey building as fire crews deal with ongoing blazes.
Four people were taken to hospital after the explosions at Wood Treating Ltd in Tunstall Road, Bosley.
Fire crews said the scene was one of devastation when they arrived just after 9am, while residents said it felt like an "earthquake" when the first blast happened.
Paul Hancock, chief fire officer for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We are still looking at four people who are unaccounted for at this stage.
"We have some urban search and rescue teams doing an assessment of the scene to determine whether it is safe or not to go into the property and carry out the search, and locate these four unaccounted people.
"We are still in the acute phase of the incident in that the fire crews are still dealing with fires within the building."
Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police Guy Hindle said: "Irrespective of the hazards and the danger, we won't give up and we don't give up."
Twenty people were working at the mill at the time of the explosions.
A 29-year-old woman was airlifted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, after she suffered serious burns and blast injuries to her head, face, arms and chest.
Another two people were taken to a specialist trauma unit at Royal Stoke University Hospital, and a fourth male casualty was taken to Whiston Hospital, Merseyside.
Four people were treated at the scene for breathing difficulties.
Police said 35 people had been "directly affected" by the incident.
People living nearby and a local primary school were told to close their windows and doors because of smoke coming from the site, south of Macclesfield.
One resident, Charlotte Maher, told Sky News: "We felt the house shake. We thought it was an earthquake. Then there was black smoke and we heard sirens."
Witness Damian Malone said: "I heard this massive explosion, to find this big fireball rising from the building.
"The ground was actually shaking. It lasted for two, three or four minutes but as the ground seemed to settle there was another explosion on top of that and black smoke billowing out everywhere.
"The sound of the explosion was unreal, scary."
Patrick Jones, who works at Wood Treating, said he clocked off his shift at 6am.
He said: "I am still worried about my mates. There are four of them that are still missing.
"I was on shift until six o'clock and the changeover for people coming on is at eight o'clock.
"I have tried to get down there but they won't let anybody through."
He said his employers were "brilliant", adding: "You couldn't ask for a better place to work."
On its website, Wood Treatment Ltd describes itself as the "UK's primary specialist in the reprocessing of quality organics... to produce essential, cost-effective raw materials for industry".
Its directors are listed as Charles Boden and George Boden.
