A CO DONEGAL man has suffered serious injuries in an industrial accident in London.
High Holborn was cordoned off by police yesterday afternoon after the incident at a construction site for London’s Crossrail project involving a worker from Ardara cutting through an electrical cable and sustaining burns.
Three fire engines and 15 firefighters, along with ambulances and police were called to the scene.
The incident is reported to have caused a gas explosion near Shaftesbury Avenue.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Police were called at approximately 12.45 yesterday following reports of an electrical explosion on a building site on a building site at the junction of High Holborn and Drury Lane.
“Officers, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service are in attendance. One man believed to be in his 20s is being treated at the scene.
“The Health and Safety Executive will be notified in due course”
A spokesman for Crossrail said: “A construction worker engaged on the Crossrail project undertaking utility excavation in the High Holborn area struck a below ground electrical cable.
“London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police all attended the scene and the worker was taken to hospital.
“The Health and Safety Executive has been informed.”
The London Fire Brigade said: “Firefighters were called to reports of a minor explosion, believed to have been caused by a workman cutting through an electrical cable, on High Holborn, close to Museum Street in WC1 today. One man sustained burns and was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service.
“The Brigade was called at 1243 and the Brigade’s involvement was over by 1314. There were three fire engines and 15 firefighters from Euston, Soho, and Clerkenwell fire stations at the scene.”