Four bodies have been recovered following an explosion at a power plant next to a dam in Italy.

Sky News’ Italian branch reported five others were injured in the blast and another three are missing. Three workers were unharmed.

Fire brigade officials said earlier that an explosion had occurred at around 3pm (1pm in the UK) at the dam on Lake Suviana – one of three artificial lakes that feed the power station – in Bargi, near Bologna and Florence.

Utility group Enel said a fire had broken out on one of its transformers at the hydroelectric power plant.

A spokesperson added that the dam basin had not been damaged.

Fire brigade official Luca Cari said 12 firefighter teams “are trying to reach the level where the accident occurred and to access the premises”, and that “divers are also ready to intervene”.

Officials added that as the fire broke out on the eighth layer of the power plant, searches will reach up to 40 meters underground.

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Francesco Notaro, regional director of the fire brigade, later said that “although the explosion caused flooding, it could be that after the explosion they found shelter somewhere else on the slab. The hope is finding someone else alive.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she had been updated on the “terrible news”.

She added: “All my closeness and that of the government to the families of the victims and the injured involved.

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“Thanks to the firefighters who promptly intervened, to the rescuers and to those who are working in these hours in the search for the missing.”

It comes two months after five workers were killed after part of a building collapsed on a construction site in Florence.

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Two of Italy’s largest unions are due to hold a four-hour nationwide strike on Thursday to protest over workplace safety.

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