Bologna, the accident at the Enel Green Power plant in Bargi. The toll was three dead, four missing and five injured. Mattarella: let there be full light

Suviana, the massacre of the workers – The missing are searched for with rubber dinghies. The CGIL: «Not…Bologna, the explosion 40 meters under Lake Suviana: this is how the workers were overwhelmed in the power plantThe rescuers at work by Alfio Sciacca, sent to Camugnano (Bologna) and Marco Merlini10 April 2024, 07:03 – Updated on 10 April 2024, 10:28Bologna, the accident at the Enel Green Power plant in Bargi. The toll was three dead, four missing and five injured. Mattarella: let there be full light Two of the non-serious injuries were quickly treated, but until late in the evening they were still beyond the gates of the Enel Green Power hydroelectric power plant in Bargi, on Lake Suviana. They wait with anguish, but they also want to lend a hand to the rescuers who are looking for their comrades still trapped forty metres below the lake level. They are eyewitnesses to the inferno of water and fire that broke out yesterday between the eighth and ninth floors underground, probably due to the explosion of a turbine. «I heard a strange noise coming from the turbine, then it was dark», one of the two injured people said.

The provisional toll is already heavy: three confirmed deaths and five injured hospitalized in various hospitals in Emilia and Tuscany. But in the belly of the power plant there are still four other missing workers who are being tried to save, clinging to the slim hope that they have managed to find a ravine in which to take shelter. The dynamics According to what the Fire Brigade have managed to reconstruct so far around 2.30pm there was a violent explosion on the eighth floor of the power station. The explosion was heard even from a distance, while a cloud of smoke rose into the sky. «I clearly heard the bang and then I saw the column of smoke, even the air became unbreathable. – says Simone Cappi, owner of the restaurant 300 meters from the site of the accident -. I know all the people who work in the center, they always come here to me. Even today (Tuesday, ed.) they came, before all hell happened”

The explosion was therefore caused by the explosion of a turbine that was due to come into operation just yesterday. This was also confirmed in the afternoon by the prefect of Bologna Attilio Visconti: «Work was underway to upgrade the power plant, but suddenly a turbine exploded». The attic between the eighth and ninth floors then collapsed, causing the refrigeration ducts to break. This is why the entire ninth floor flooded. Right here the fire brigade divers search for the missing. With a residual hope expressed by the regional director of the Fire Brigade, Francesco Notaro. “Although the explosion caused flooding – he explains -, they may have found shelter somewhere else on the plate.” The firefighters reached the ninth floor via the stairs, which are accessible up to a certain point. But they still have to proceed with great caution, with suits and oxygen tanks. External companies External companies carried out the work on the hydroelectric power plant. It seems like two or three. The team was made up of twelve workers from external companies. Two of which would be companies specialized in this type of work intervention, such as ABB and Siemens. Among the group members was also a former Enel Green Power employee who acted as a consultant for the external companies responsible for carrying out the work. However, it was an intervention planned for a year and entrusted to personnel considered expert. Essentially they would have had to test a turbine, after a previous maintenance job. It remains to be understood why it suddenly exploded. The investigation This will probably be one of the first issues in the judiciary’s investigation. The head of the Prosecutor’s Office Giuseppe Amato was among the first to arrive at the site of the tragedy yesterday. «Now – he said – it’s time for research, then it will be time to understand what happened». The opening of a file is inevitable: «In this phase we will make a technical registration to carry out urgent checks on the bodies and we will verify whether or not it is necessary to proceed with autopsies». Also on site were the prefect and the mayor of Bologna.

And in the afternoon the CEO of Enel Green Power Salvatore Bernabei also arrived. «The company – we read in a note – is collaborating with all the authorities and expresses its condolences and closeness to the staff involved and the families, who represent the priority for the company». The two most seriously injured were admitted to the Bufalinidi Cesena hospital. One of the two is in a reserved prognosis in the major burns department. The other injured were admitted to hospitals in Parma, Forlì and Pisa. Mattarella The reaction of the highest officials of the State was immediate. The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella got in touch with the President of the Emilia-Romagna region Stefano Bonaccini. In the phone call he expressed “his condolences for the deceased workers and solidarity with the injured, the families and work colleagues of the victims, hoping that full light will be shed on the dynamics of the accident”. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also said she was following “with apprehension the terrible news regarding the explosion that occurred in the hydroelectric power plant”. «My closeness and that of the Government to the families of the victims and the injured involved – she added -. Thanks to the firefighters who promptly intervened, to the rescuers and to those who are working in these hours in the search for the missing.” For the president of the region Bonaccini “now is the time for help, but then we demand to know the causes, what happened: it really is not tolerable that one can die like this at work”.