MORE blasts at a burning former steelworks site are possible in the coming days, as emergency services wait to recover the bodies of two men tragically killed in an explosion last week.

Firefighters are unable to actively tackle the blaze on the former SSI coke ovens site in South Bank, Middlesbrough, as it is too dangerous.

Two contract workers were killed while working at height after an explosion and fire in a tower at the site on Thursday.

The Northern Echo:

Following a series of further blasts over the weekend, emergency services are unable to get to the men safely to recover their bodies.

Instead they are having to let the fire burn itself out in a controlled manner. More blasts could be expected before the site is safe enough for emergency services to access.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said all but essential safety work on the site, which was being decommissioned by the South Tees Development Corporation, had been suspended.

He said it had been an ‘horrific and tragic’ time for the workers’ families and also for those on-site who had witnessed the accident.

A police and Health and Safety Investigation is underway and the Mayor said yesterday that an internal inquiry within the South Tees Development Corporation will run alongside that to help with technical information and feed into the overarching investigation.

But no operation to retrieve the two men, who were contractors from out of the area, can be started until at least 48 hours after the last flare-up. 

The Northern Echo:

The two workers, one from demolition firm John F Hunt, the main contractors on-site, and the other from Nationwide Platforms, which provides the cherry pickers, were removing the furniture from the outside of the tower stack when the explosion happened.

Mr Houchen said: “We have lost two men and we don’t want to lose anybody else. We need to make sure our emergency services are protected.

“My primary concern is the dignity of the two men who lost their lives doing their job. The first concern is to recover them. The second is that an investigation must find out what happened and why it happened, because that is what their families will want to know.”