ABOUT 200 pieces of steel have been removed from the collapsed boiler house at Didcot Power Station as the search for three men feared dead continued.

Recovery teams continue to make their way through the 17,000 tonnes of twisted steel and concrete until dark every day to find missing demolition workers Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham, and Chris Huxtable, 34, from Swansea.

It has been more than six weeks since the 10-storey building collapsed while being prepared for demolition.

So far RWE Power Generation, the owners of the site, have said they still do not know how long the operation will take before the men are found, but said more and more debris from Didcot A power station was being extracted every day, including some substantial sized bits of steel.

Spokeswoman for the energy company Kelly Nye added the timeline for the power station to be demolished, originally set to be completed by the end of 2016, had been placed "under review".

She said while continuing to remove the debris, RWE was also looking at a way to bring down the remaining half of the boiler house when the recovery operation was over.

Ms Nye added: "We still do not know how long the recovery operation will take, but we will advise people when we know more.

"We are making good progress on site.

"It has not been possible to weigh all the material that has been removed, but we are around the 200 mark and the size and shapes of what is removed varies."

It is thought the operation will take many weeks, possibly months, before the loved ones are found.

Oxfordshire's chief fire officer Dave Etheridge said officials remained in "constant contact" with crews working their way through the ruins and would be ready to step in to recover the men if they were discovered.

He added: "We have to remember this could take a long time, but we will get the missing out as soon as we can.

"I gave my own guarantee of that and we plan to see that through."