Four Workers Still Missing in Italy After Explosion at Enel Hydroelectric Power Plant Kills at Least Three

By Helena Smolak and Mauro Orru

Rescuers in Italy were searching for four missing workers in the early hours of Wednesday after an explosion at a hydroelectric power plant owned by Rome-based energy group Enel killed at least three people.

The Italian fire brigade said in a post on X that it had dispatched about 100 rescue workers for the search operation at the facility in Bargi, close to Bologna in northern Italy on the shores of Lake Suviana, after an underground explosion on Tuesday afternoon caused collapses and flooding.

Authorities said the explosion had left three people dead, five injured and four missing, with three workers unscathed.

Divers ventured into the flooded level nine stories underground Tuesday in search for the missing.

A spokesman for the fire brigade said the explosion was likely caused by a fire in the turbine or in the transformer at the plant.

Video footage and images shared by the Italian fire brigade showed thick smoke rising from the facility and rescue workers inside the premises, with wires hanging from the damaged walls and ceiling.

Enel Green Power, Enel's renewable arm, said in a statement Wednesday that it would continue to collaborate with authorities to ascertain the facts behind the incident.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a post on X late Tuesday that she was following the situation closely and expressed her sympathies to the families of the victims.

Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com and Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2024 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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