Emergency services in Ironbridge disaster training exercise

One person is dead and another 10 are missing while thousands of others have been evacuated after a huge landslide hit a train in the Ironbridge Gorge.

That was the mock disaster being played out in Telford yesterday as council chiefs and emergency services staged a training exercise designed to prepare for the worst. Exercise Abraham saw a huge landslide hit after flooding in the Gorge.

It is a very real worry for council chiefs, who have spent more than £16 million tackling land instability in the Gorge since 2001.

Bosses also this week re-issued land instability packs to 1,900 homes and businesses in the Gorge advising residents about the risks of landslides and mud movements.

Part of the two-day simulation involved the setting up of an emergency rest centre at Oakengates Leisure Centre in Telford, where some of the "survivors" from the train, played by actors, were taken after the mock disaster.

Victor Brownlees, chief executive of Telford & Wrekin Council, said the council had learned a lot from the exercise.

He added: "The scenario has gone very well. One of the main reasons for the whole episode was so we could learn from the experience, such as how we communicate with our partners."

Mr Brownlees said: "So far all the agencies involved have been great. We are preparing like this because of the floods in Cumbria and Cornwall last year. We consider this to be a real problem."

In the case of a real emergency the rest centres could be located in one of seven locations around Telford and would provide food, shelter and medical care.