Freak Lightning Strike Caused Major Fire At Steel Plant

A FIRE which was reported at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot, south Wales was caused by a freak lightning strike.

The massive blast rocked the steelworks shortly after a shift change at around 8am.

Flames could be seen for miles around and parts of the plant were evacuated as emergency services rushed to the scene.

Amazingly no casualties were reported among the near 5,000 workers at the steelworks.

Tata spokesman Robert Dangerfield said: "The lightning strike caused a power outage and the power outage caused an issue in the coke oven.


"We made the area safe and we will be restarting manufacturing later today.

"No one was injured and this is an example of out health and safety procedure working very well."

Reports of the blaze emerged on twitter this morning at around 8:30am.

Images on the site showed flames and smoke rising into the air from the site.

Onlooker Mike O'Neill said: "My car shook with the explosion as I drove past. I can see massive 100ft flames. There was also a huge plume of black smoke."

Nearby resident Pete Thomas added: "It is amazing that no-one was hurt because the explosion was huge.
"We often hear bangs and see fire but this was something else."

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: "We have got six appliances there from Port Talbot, Neath, Morriston and an aerial appliance from Swansea West.

"As it stands this is an isolated incident and the power supply has been re-established. The crews are on standby just in case anything should escalate."

A South Wales Police spokesman said: “We understand it is a contained fire on site. We believe it to be quite minor. We are waiting for an update from the fire service, which has primary control.”

The Welsh Ambulance service said one ambulance and one rapid response vehicle are attending the scene but there are currently no reports of injuries.

Last month the steel giant announced 750 job cuts at the site among over a thousand jobs going across the UK.