UPDATE - Union workers in Italy demand safety as death toll from hydroelectric plant blast rises to 6

ADDS DEATH TOLL, REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Hundreds of trade union workers in Italy called for action on health and safety Thursday after the death toll from an explosion this week at a hydroelectric power plant near Bologna rose to six.

Some 1,500 people took to the streets in Bologna, the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, in a march led by the Italian Labor Union (UIL) and Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), the state-run ANSA news agency reported.

On Tuesday, an explosion occurred underground at Enel Green Power's Bargi hydroelectric plant on Lake Suviana, leaving at least three people dead and four others missing.

Rescuers recovered three more bodies from the site, raising the toll to six.

Efforts to find the last missing person continue but he is feared dead.

The union workers marched Thursday with a banner saying "Enough Now" to protest the disaster, which is the latest in a long series of deadly workplace accidents in the country.

The unions' members are also striking for eight hours in Emilia-Romagna on Thursday, according to ANSA.

Following the deadly incident, Bologna Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Amato said a probe would look into "procurement and subcontracting," an issue the unions say is a major factor.

"These are sub-contract deaths," said Bologna CGIL Secretary Michele Bulgarelli.