Sarah Champion MP declares it a national scandal that six months after the collapse of Didcot power station the workers have not been found.

Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, has expressed her frustration that the three workers, two of whom are her constituents, who lost their lives during the demolition of Didcot power station have still not been found.

Tuesday 23rd August marks six months since the collapse of the boiler house at Didcot A power station, in which Ken Cresswell and John Shaw from Rotherham, and Christopher Huxtable from Swansea, were killed during demolition work.

The recovery operation has been stopped for weeks at a time during the six months and despite campaigns from the families, the men are yet to be located, let alone returned home.

The fourth man killed, Michael Collings from Teesside, was recovered at the time of the collapse.

Commenting on the six-month anniversary of the collapse, Sarah Champion MP said:

I am so frustrated that the men are yet to be found. It is a national scandal that six months on their grieving families are still unable to bury their loved ones.

The families of the men killed have been through immense psychological torture; firstly not being informed for hours that it was their loved-ones who were missing, then a three week halt on the recovery and another pause for weeks while it was decided how to bring down the remaining structure. The families have had to fight to keep the recovery on track, they should never have been forced into this position. They are as much victims of this disaster as their men who died. Once the men are home, there will be serious questions to be answered by all those involved and I won't rest until I get satisfactory answers.

It is completely unacceptable that these men, carrying out their work in good faith, have paid with their lives. The Health and Safety Executive must review its procedures and regulations where demolitions are concerned. Demolition work can of course be dangerous, but every effort must be made to ensure the safety of workers and to prevent similar incidents in the future. If we don't learn from this disaster we are failing to honour the men who died.

For the full press release, please click here.