Families’ agony that loved ones are still buried beneath rubble six months after Didcot power station collapse
Relatives visit site to hold four minute silence for lost workers
FAMILIES of the three dead men whose bodies are still trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed power station have blasted the fact that they still cannot be reunited with their loves ones six months on.
Today they visited the site of the former Didcot power station in Oxfordshire, to hold a special four minute silence exactly six months to the day since it happened.
The remaining part of the boiler house they are buried in was demolished last month but the recovery operation is still underway.
One body was recovered after the February collapse before the building was deemed too unstable.
The heartbroken families of the victims say the wait is unacceptable - leaving them unable to properly mourn their loves ones.
The bodies of Chris Huxtable, 34, from Swansea, Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, all remain trapped beneath the rubble to this day.
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Another worker Mike Collings, 53, was rescued from the site but later died of his injuries.
Speaking to on the six month anniversary of the collapse yesterday, Chris Huxtable's sister Natalie said: "We can't move on. We can't do nothing, like no normal things.
"It is horrible. It's just horrendous. I lost my dad 10 years ago to cancer but I got to say goodbye and everything but this is just disgusting. We can't kiss him, we can't hug him."
Chris' eldest daughter, who also visited the site for the first time yesterday, added: "To think he is still under there six months on, something should have been done ages ago. It is horrible."
Relatives of Ken Cresswell also attended the silence at 4pm - almost the exact time the building came down six months ago.
On February 23 a large section of the decommissioned Old Didcot A coal-fired plant in Oxfordshire, which is owned by RWE npower, a German company, crashed to the ground at 4pm. The dead, injured and missing workers were demolition contractors preparing to raze the main turbine hall.
Dave Etheridge, the chief fire officer for Oxfordshire, said at the time that there had not been an explosion.
He said that demolition had been due to take place in ten days and that the health and safety executive and Thames Valley police had launched an investigation into why the building collapsed sooner than planned.
Staff from Coleman and Company, a demolition contractor based in Birmingham, were on site preparing for other parts of the plant to be demolished. The remaining three cooling towers are due to be demolished later this year.
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