Tata Steel has said a fire at its facility in Port Talbot, Wales, was caused by a lightning strike. The blaze, which started at the plant’s coke ovens around 8 am local time, was extinguished by emergency services just under two hours later, a spokesperson for the company said.

“No one was hurt. Following the necessary safety and operational checks, we will be looking to start manufacturing operations today. Initial investigations suggest a lightning strike led to the fire at the site’s coke ovens,” said the spokesperson. The company has not estimated the extent of damage to the site.

Footage on social media and the UK press showed a dramatic scene of flames, and smoke billowing from the plant on Thursday morning.

The fire comes less than a month after Tata Steel announced the loss of 750 jobs at the Welsh plant, as part of a wider cost cutting exercise, warning that difficult conditions in the European market were likely to persist for the foreseeable future.

Port Talbot is one of Tata Steel’s three integrated steel making sites (the others being Scunthorpe in north eastern England and Ijmuiden in the Netherlands). The Welsh facility is part of its Strip Products UK business, producing slab, hot rolled, cold rolled, and galvanised coil.

Last week, Tata Steel announced a ₹2,127 crore loss for the quarter ended December as sales slumped and it took restructuring charges in its European business.

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