A huge explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant on Friday morning has left multiple people dead or missing, according to a county sheriff, as first responders said secondary blasts initially forced rescuers to keep their distance from the burning site.
The powerful blast ripped through the explosives manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee on Friday morning, rattling homes miles away and bringing emergency services to the scene, authorities and residents said.
The incident happened at Accurate Energetic Systems near the town of Bucksnort, about 60 miles south-west of Nashville, the Hickman county sheriff’s office said. The agency asked people in a social media post to avoid the area to allow responders to do their work.
Further blasts were initially keeping rescuers at some distance, Hickman county advanced EMT David Stewart told the Associated Press by telephone.
Some time later on Friday morning, access was achieved and first responders and explosives experts were searching the rubble for casualties and trying to determine what caused the explosion.
There were casualties and injuries related to the explosion, but the Tennessee emergency management agency was not yet sharing any numbers early on Friday afternoon because the state department of health hasn’t confirmed them, spokesperson Kristin Coulter said by telephone.
The Humphreys county sheriff, Chris Davis, said at a press conference that there were “several people at this time unaccounted for”.
“We do have some that are deceased, he said, adding: “We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation.”
Accurate Energetic Systems, which makes and tests explosives and is based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on Friday morning. The cause of the explosion is not yet known.
Video from the scene showed a burning debris field with smoke billowing into the air. WTVF-TV in Nashville broadcast images of debris strewn about the site, with damaged vehicles in a parking lot. The news station said it received calls from people in the area who felt a large explosion.
Residents in Lobelville, more than a 20-minute drive from the manufacturer, said they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.
The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he told the AP by phone. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
