“Dead and missing” –

There are at least four dead and three missing, and several injured. But the toll could get worse. An explosion occurred at the Suviana basin dam, on the Bolognese Apennines, on Tuesday 9 April around 3pm. Among the injured were four who were seriously burned while other people still have to be taken out of the plant, the Bargi hydroelectric power station, in Municipality of Camugnano. Local health authority personnel, carabinieri and firefighters were on site. The latter would have difficulty entering the Camugnano power plant where the explosion occurred in the early afternoon. This is what the mayor of Camugnano, Marco Masinara, who is trying to get to the Suviana basin by car, tells AGI. “The fire – he reports – would have broken out on the -9th floor, below the level of the lake, about thirty meters deep”.

❌#Bologna, #explosion in the early afternoon of #Today in a semi-submerged hydroelectric power plant in Bargi, near Lake Suviana: 3 injured workers rescued, #fire fighters engaged in search operations for possible missing persons. Intervention in progress [#9aprile 16:30] pic.twitter.com/EsT20o16lM

— Fire Brigade (@vigilidelfuoco) April 9, 2024

The power plant is located entirely below the level of the Suviana artificial basin. “From what I have been told, it is a serious accident – explains the mayor -, there were various workers inside and there are others inside”. Work was underway on the turbines at the hydroelectric power station. According to initial information, the explosion occurred in a generator connected to a turbine. The rooms where the explosion occurred are located at level minus 9 and “are submerged, according to the indications of those who went down the pipe” explains the commander of the Bologna fire brigade, Calogero Turturici.