BOOKS of condolence will be opened today at Didcot Civic Hall for the victims of the Didcot power station disaster.

Residents and community leaders in Didcot gathered at the Civic Hall to pay tribute to those involved in Tuesday's disastrous collapse at the power station.

Today, police confirmed the identity of the man who died at the Didcot A Power Station as Michael Collings, 53, from the Cleveland area.

A post-mortem examination which took place yesterday concluded he died from multiple injuries.

Town mayor Des Healy was the first person to sign the book of condolences, which is open for anyone to write their message to the families affected.

Mr Healy said: "By doing this it gives people a chance to pay their respects.

"Didcot is a unique community and a very close one. The events of the past few days have affected us all."

He spoke of how the power station has been at the heart of Didcot for over 40 years.

The 68-year-old, who worked at the power station site from 1972 to 1999, added: “There’s a very strong connection between people in the town and the power station because so many people have worked there over the years.

“There will be more than one book because they are going to get filled up very quickly.”

There is no time limit for signing the book.

The Rev Hannah Reynolds, vicar of St Peter’s Church in Newlands Avenue, said prayers would be said at churches across Didcot on Sunday.

She added: “This has been a big shock for the whole community.
“I was visiting a care home in Britwell Road and heard the building collapsed – you could hear all the steel and concrete hitting the floor.

“Afterwards the whole of the town was very subdued and everyone’s thoughts are with the family of the man who died and the families of those who are still missing. We are all going to be praying for them at services on Sunday.

“I think the civic hall is a good place for books of condolence – anyone can go in and sign the books and leave a message."

“Anything people can do at this time to show support for the rescue workers at the power station is very welcome – it’s a fraught time for them too.”

It comes as the search continues for three missing men among the rubble of the boiler house, with fire chiefs warning the structure is extremely unstable.

Cranes, heavy-duty lifting equipment and the Army were deployed to the collapsed boiler house at Didcot A Power Station yesterday morning.

One worker was killed by an accident at the site on Tuesday evening when half of the 10-storey building caved in while being prepared for demolition. The incident also hospilatised five others.

Since then firefighters have been scouring the area using drones and sniffer dogs to search for signs of life in the wreckage.

Las night, chief fire officer Dave Etheridge, of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Services, stressed the site - which was being prepared for demolition next month - remained "extremely unstable" and could collapse further.

Mr Etheridge said it will be a "prolonged and difficult" search and added: “We are working with Thames Valley Police to keep families informed of our progress on the site. 

"Our priority remains to recover those missing but the site remains extremely unstable – both the collapsed structure and the remaining building which has already been primed and cut for demolition. 

"It is likely that a further collapse is possible and so the safety of the teams working on site has to be our first consideration.

“We are continuing to work closely with structural engineers and demolition experts to establish a safe way of working on the site. We anticipate that this exercise will be prolonged and difficult. 

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who has died and our thoughts remain with the families of those missing.”

Ambulances and paramedics are still on standby in case an survivors are rescued from the rubble.

A robot was deployed yesterday by explosive experts in Northolt Troop, part of the Royal Logistic Corps. 

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Army bomb disposal experts leant their support to urban search and rescue and search dog teams in the search for the missing persons trapped beneath the vast pile of twisted steel, contorted pipes and tons of concrete, the remains of the collapsed Didcot A Power Station.

"Operators from the Northolt Troop arrived on site in Didcot at 4:00pm on Wednesday, February 24, and immediately deployed their Cutlass robot; a state-of-the-art remote controlled vehicle more usually associated with pin-pointing suspect packages and explosive devices and then rendering them safe.

"In this instance it was being used to delve deep into the remains of the former power station’s turbine hall to try and locate three missing workers."

The senior fire officer and incident commander Gary Coupar, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, added "The bomb disposal team have provided the capability to send in their remote device into what remains a dangerous structure, so we can continue to search without the risk of endangering others."

The process has been hampered by concerns about the remaining half of the structure however, which experts have warned could collapse "at any minute".

Specialists from fire services in other parts of the country with experience in similar incidents have also been drafted in to help.

Chief fire officer Mr Etheridge had previously told a press confererence that the families of the three missing men had been informed it was "highly unlikely" they had survived the disaster.

But Mr Etheridge promised them their relatives would be recovered.

This morning he said: "Our priorities are to support the families and to ensure the safety of everyone on site working around the clock to resolve this incident. 

“We are working with Thames Valley Police to keep families informed of our progress on the site.”

It is believed that biker Mick "Whitby" Collings was the man killed when the building collapsed.

A friend of Mr Collings said she would never forget his "daft laugh" and "great big smile" as she paid tribute at the entrance to the power station.

Sarah Robertson travelled down from the village of Carlin How, in North Yorkshire, to pay tribute to her friend.

The lorry driver said she made sure she was able to take a delivery to Didcot so she could lay flowers at the scene.

She said: "I've known him all my life, he was a lovely guy, he would do anything for anyone.

"We were friends for a long time and he had a lot of friends with his motorcycling group.

"I'm totally gutted, I'm gutted for the family. It's just not fair.

"He was a lovely bloke and it's just devastating."

The message on the bunch of flowers left by Ms Robertson read: "'One in a million' goodnight Mick, we'll all miss you and that daft laugh and great big smile. Rest in peace, all our love, Tony, Sarah and Zoe xxx."

Mr Collings, is the only worker confirmed as dead.

Meanwhile firefighters are also working with Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive, who are investigating the cause of the collapse.

The community of Didcot rallied round to do their bit in aid of the search for three missing people after Tuesday's disaster.

Mothers and children from the town baked cakes and donated other snacks to the emergency services trying to find three missing workers trapped beneath the rubble of the 10-storey building.

They said they were devastated after hearing of the collapse of part of the boiler house, which killed one person and left five others injured.