The Suviana Power Plant Explosion: A Tragedy Beyond Error

The explosion at the Suviana hydroelectric power plant was not an error. The residents of Castiglione de' Pepoli, a town in the Bolognese Apennines where dozens of Enel employees live, including some who work in the exploded power plant, are convinced of this. But what then caused the incident on April 9th that cost the lives of six people? Suviana Massacre, the truth of the Bargi plant from the black box: the turbine overheated the oils. In the village of 6,000 residents, there are dozens of specialized technicians who work at the local power plants, a professionalism that is esteemed and defended. In the square, the comments reject the criticisms about safety. 'There is the utmost attention in the plants, the staff is of a high level,' summarize two men, 'we do not believe in an error, perhaps there was a malfunction, they will see with the technical investigations as soon as it will be possible to do them.' There is strong 'consideration and regret' for those who died but pride is claimed for the working conditions. A former Enel employee emphatically reports anecdotes: 'If you have slightly worn or damaged safety shoes, that day you do not enter work, you come back with suitable footwear,' he says about the standards maintained. 'And once - he remembers - a metal beam was cut and iron dust fell, a small thing but it was given indication to immediately remove the iron sawdust, to sweep it away. 'Here - explains Mayor Maurizio Fabbri - there is a long-standing tradition and a sense of belonging to work in hydroelectric plants, many of our fellow citizens now and in the past are part of it.' None of the technicians from Castiglione de' Pepoli died. And among them, there are some direct survivors of the tragedy. They were on shift at Bargi when the incident occurred. They survived by a whisker. One, Leonardo Raffreddato, is hospitalized at the Cesena Burn Center and has been declared out of life-threatening danger. He managed to get up from the lower floors. Instead, Emanuele Santi and Alessio Fortuzzi remained unharmed. They all live in Castiglione, went to technical schools together, have been friends since they were kids. Now they are safe like war veterans, although all in shock. Shaken by the fate of their colleagues and the other deceased technicians, but also by the apocalyptic experience they lived through. Emanuele Santi worked today. He was on shift, he could have been exempted but instead followed the schedule. Santi reported that he yelled at the others to escape immediately upon hearing that the power generation group being tested began to make an abnormal, increasing noise. He, like all the others, is assisted by a team of psychologists. The mother of the other survivor from Castiglione, Alessio Fortuzzi, is herself shocked and incredulous. 'My son was on the upper floors of the power plant and managed to get to safety in time, otherwise he would have died. He called me right after the incident, I still knew nothing,' said the woman, distressed. 'We have to go light candles for the Madonna. This morning the technician took the car and left, he decided to be out all day. 'He is distraught, does not want to talk about it. He told me he wanted to be at peace - the mother also said -. When I tried to ask him something about some images shown on TV, he held his head in his hands and asked me to say nothing, not to want to know anything. Last night he had a malaise and the doctor came to visit him.'