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"When I was at the steelworks on Friday, I was told that unless they could place another order for iron ore pellets this week then it'll be too late," he said.

The plant's Chinese owner, Jingye, has cancelled two cargo shipments of coking coal for the site's two blast furnaces and it has not yet paid for iron pellets that are scheduled to arrive next week.

Burnt tiny plastic pellets, known as nurdles, have been washed up along the east coast in the aftermath of the collision.

Also present was journalist Al Martinez, who would become a Times columnist and, decades later, write about being haunted by what he saw as the cyanide pellets dropped and the gas rose.

The retired GP waved an orange flag at a train carrying wooden pellets that was travelling towards Drax Power Station, in Selby, North Yorkshire, which has been criticised for its wood-burning practices.