four people have died and one other has
been
injured after an explosion at a waste
water treatment works in avonmouth near
bristol
fire crews and police were called to the
site of the blast this morning and a
major incident was declared
john kay reports 20 past 11
and a major incident just a quarter of a
mile from the m5 motorway
a blast to torn apart a silo holding
biosolids
at the wessex water sewage treatment
works
followed by an extremely loud explosion
this lorry driver had been delivering
goods and was then trapped on a
neighboring site
like a large collapse or something it
was not my concern i'd heard before
i didn't know what it was pure confusion
nobody knew
what the situation was emergency teams
from
six fire stations attended what they
described as a very
challenging incident tonight it was
confirmed
that this was no longer a rescue
operation
sadly despite the best efforts of all
those involved
we can confirm there have been four
fatalities
this includes three employees of wessex
water
and one contractor our thoughts are with
the
family friends and colleagues of all
those affected in today's incident
the terribly sad incident
a fifth person has been taken to
hospital but their injuries
are not life-threatening police say the
incident
is not believed to have been
terror-related and there's no risk to
the wider public
when you heard that noise jawad was in a
warehouse a mile away
and i said straightaways explosion
because i was in my office and i feel it
you felt it yeah yeah it's like shaking
you know
that must be terrifying yeah yeah this
is really bad moment for for everyone to
work as here
in a statement this evening wessex water
described the incident as
tragic saying staff were absolutely
devastated
tonight the prime minister and the mayor
of bristol have both paid tribute to
those who died
and to the emergency services the police
have promised
a thorough investigation as four
families
begin to grieve john kay bbc news
avenue