Prayer service held for Bosley mill explosion victims

A prayer service has taken place at a church in Bosley to remember those who died in an explosion at a wood flour mill a week ago.

Three bodies have been recovered in the search at the Wood Treatment plant in Cheshire, with a search on-going for a fourth missing person.

The explosion and blaze last Friday caused the collapse of a four-storey building.

The service took place at St Mary the Virgin church in the village.

Temperatures reached 1,000C in the blast and it was described by rescuers as the "worst incident of its kind" in a decade.

'Time to reflect'

Derek Moore, 62, has been identified as one of the victims.

Formal identification of the other two bodies is yet to take place. They are thought to be employees William Barks, 51, and Dorothy Bailey, 62.

Will Barks, Derek Moore, Jason Shingler and Dorothy Bailey have not been seen since Friday

Their colleague Jason Shingler, 38, is unaccounted for.

A prayer notice said the service was "a chance for us to pray for our community and the families of those affected, an opportunity to share and support one another, and a time to reflect on the tragic events of the past week."

Search teams have described the scene as "complex and challenging"

At the scene: Dave Guest, BBC North West Tonight

There wasn't a spare seat to be had inside St Mary's church in Bosley as the Vicar, the Rev John Harries, told them: "An explosion took place here in Bosley which quite simply shattered our world."

The congregation included workers from the devastated wood mill, villagers who knew those killed or injured, and others who simply wanted to show solidarity.

Outside, truck driver Phil Jones, who'd worked at the mill since the 1970s said he still couldn't believe what had happened - and wouldn't until he was able to return to the yard and see for himself that the mill was no longer there.

He was a friend of Dot Bailey, one of the three workers whose bodies have so far been recovered.

"She was always cheerful, a very hard worker. I've never seen Dot down," he said.

The explosion took place at Bosley, between Macclesfield and Congleton in Cheshire

A joint investigation is under way, involving police, the fire service and the Health and Safety Executive, to establish the cause of the blast.

Witnesses are also being interviewed as part of the investigation.

Wood is processed at the plant into a fine powder and the resulting "wood flour", with a consistency like sand, is used to make laminate flooring.