Suviana basin, the explosion at the dam: seriously injured and missing

BOLOGNA – An explosion occurred at the Suviana basin dam, on the Bolognese Apennines, this afternoon around 3pm. The outcome is tragic. three dead, three injured and six missing. Carabinieri and around seventy firefighters from Ravenna, Pavullo and Bologna, five ambulances and a medical vehicle were on site.

According to initial information, the explosion occurred in a generator connected to a turbine. The Bargi hydroelectric power plant, in the municipality of Camugnano, belongs to Enel. Built on the shore of Lake Suviana, it is the most powerful in Emilia Romagna. The prefect of Bologna is going to the site Attilio Visconti and the mayor Matteo Lepore. “They are checking what happened, even there is no certainty at the moment about the number of wounded and missing. We still have to understand, I think they were doing maintenance work at the power plant” says the prefect.

The explosion on floor nine

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. “There is a lot of smoke to access the premises, we are trying to get rid of it also to lower the temperatures, then when we get to the accident floor we will be able to calculate with greater precision, even after contacting the Enel manager”. At the moment, he concludes , “we still don’t know what caused the event: there are transformers on those floors, but in the absence of any evidence we can’t say what the cause is.”

The mayor of Camugnano: “Fire 30 meters deep”

“Four seriously injured people were taken away, others are still inside the plant. They are Enel technicians or contracting companies” reports the mayor of Camugnano Marco Masinara. “It seems a fire broke out on floor nine, the entire power plant is below lake level at around 30 meters deep”.

Fear around the lake

The first images of the tragedy are spreading online, on Facebook pages in the surrounding area of ​​the lake, accompanied by the stories of those who saw or heard the emergency vehicles passing at full speed in the direction of the artificial lake of the Apennines. “This is the reason for all those sirens”, “I saw the ambulances and the police”, “it must be something serious… vehicles continue to pass with the siren blaring already from Marzabotto”, write in several of the towns located on the Sp64 Porrettana.

The reactions

‘Unfortunately there has been some bad news in Emilia Romagna, we are following the developments of the situation with apprehension, we stand in solidarity with all the families worried about the fate of their loved ones.” This was said by Antonio Tajani, deputy prime minister and foreign minister.