VICTIMS of a power station explosion could be identified only from dental records, it has been revealed.

Dentist Kathryn Quinton told an inquest opening in Middlesbrough that she recognised dental work she had carried out on Darren Higgins, 28, of Normanby, and 36-year-old Andrew Sherwood, from Hartlepool.

Teesside coroner Michael Sheffield said: "They could not otherwise be identified by normal means. I am satisfied they are the two bodies in question."

The operator technicians were killed in a blast at Enron's Teesside Power Station on August 8. Maintenance manager Lawrence Surtees, from Hawthorne, County Durham, died hours later in hospital.

Detective Inspector Steph-en Richards, deputy senior investigating officer in an investigation mounted by Cleveland Police and the Health and Safety Executive, said the explosion had been in a transformer at the Grangetown power plant.

He said: "According to their records, the three were working on the transformer at the time of the explosion."

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.

Graeme White, 37, from Billingham, is being treated for burns sustained in the explosion.