THE families of the men who died after being engulfed in a fireball at a power plant explosion have broken their silence.

They spoke out last Friday after an inquest into the tragedy at Teesside Power Station at Wilton, near Redcar recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The Health and Safety Executive said a decision on whether to prosecute former plant-owners Enron would be taken soon.

The four-day inquest on Teesside heard that operations technicians Andy Sherwood, 36 of Hartlepool, and Darren Higgins, 28, of Normanby suffered 100 per cent burns and died immediately after the accident on August 8, 2001.

Paul Surtees, 40, of Hawthorne, east Durham, suffered 90 per cent burns. He died the following day.

A fourth man, Graeme White, 39, of Billingham, suffered ten per cent burns and is still receiving surgery.

The inquest heard that maintenance manager Mr Surtees and Mr Higgins were attempting to adjust the voltage of a transformer.

The other two men were there to observe the unusual procedure.

The procedure would have enabled the men to close a circuit breaker to allow maintenance work elsewhere.

However, the transformer was still receiving massive amounts of energy from a steam turbine.

A huge surge - enough to power five million electric fires - flooded into the transformer. Oil caught fire and flames burst out of the machine engulfing the men.

The inquest heard how Mr Surtees, as the most senior member of the team, had decided to attempt the operation, as he was the most experienced.

Coroner Michael Sheffield told the jury they could only record a verdict of accidental death. He explained that alternative verdicts of corporate manslaughter or an open verdict would not fit with the evidence.

Edward Sherwood, father of Andrew, issued a statement through px Limited, the successors to Enron.

Mr Sherwood said: "Now that the inquest has finally been held I hope that we can all be left to get on with our lives. My son, Andrew, died doing a job he loved. He was unfortunate that fate put him in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The Sherwood family was legally represented at the inquest by Major Phillip Sherwood, brother of Andrew.

Jim and Ann Higgins, Darren's parents, said: "We can only hope that something like this will be prevented from ever happening again."

No-one from Mr Surtees' family was available for comment.

Tim Underdown, chief executive of Enron's successors at the power plant px Limited, said safety was the foremost priority at the plant.