 "No survivors after huge blast levels explosives factory in Tennessee")
Authorities in Tennessee have confirmed that there are no survivors following a powerful explosion at an explosives manufacturing plant that was felt miles away and levelled the facility.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a press conference on Saturday that officials were operating on the assumption that everyone present at the site had died. The exact number of casualties remains uncertain, as does the cause of the blast.
Eighteen people were initially reported missing after the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems on Friday morning. The company, which manufactures and researches explosives for the US military, saw its facility obliterated, scattering debris across an area of at least half a mile (800 metres). Residents living more than 15 miles (24 kilometres) away reported feeling the shockwave.
Aerial footage showed the hilltop plant in Bucksnort, west of Nashville, reduced to a smouldering wreck with mangled metal, charred vehicles and debris strewn across the site.
Describing the aftermath as one of the worst scenes he had witnessed, Sheriff Davis said emergency teams were still investigating and attempting to recover remains.
“It’s not like working an accident. It’s not like working a tornado. We’re dealing with explosions. And I would say at this time, we’re dealing with remains,” he said.
At times becoming apparently emotional, Davis said there has been an outpouring of support for the community, located in a heavily wooded area of middle Tennessee, between the economically vital Tennessee River and the bustling metropolis of Nashville.
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More ShortsSigns near the site on Saturday asked for prayers for the families.
‘A lot of grief’
Terry Bagsby, 68, is retired but he helps out working the register at a gas station near the site. He said people in the close-knit community are “very, very sad.”
He said he knows people who worked at the site and are missing.
“I don’t know how to explain it. … Just a lot of grief.”
The company’s website says it processes explosives and ammunition at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville. It’s not immediately known how many people work at the plant or how many were there when the explosion happened.
Davis said investigators are trying to determine what happened and couldn’t say what caused the explosion.
Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, said in a post on social media on Friday that their “thoughts and prayers" are with the families and community impacted.
“We extend our gratitude to all first responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions,” the post said.
Explosion jolts residents from sleep
The company has been awarded numerous military contracts, largely by the U.S. Army and Navy, to supply different types of munitions and explosives, according to public records. The products range from bulk explosives to landmines and small breaching charges, including C4.
When the explosion occurred, residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, 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 Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee posted on the social platform X that he is monitoring the situation and asked “Tennesseans to join us in prayer for the families impacted by this tragic incident.”
A small group gathered for a vigil Friday night at a nearby park, clutching candles as they prayed for the missing and their families and sang “Amazing Grace."
The U.S. has a long history of deadly accidents at workplaces, including the Monongah coal mine explosion that killed 362 men and boys in West Virginia in 1907. Several high-profile industrial accidents in the 1960s helped lead President Richard Nixon to sign a law creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the next year.
In 2019, Accurate Energetic Systems faced several small fines from the U.S. Department of Labour for violations of policies meant to protect workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, radiation and other irritants, according to citations from OSHA.
In 2014, an explosion occurred at another ammunition facility in the same small community, killing one person and injuring at least three others.
With inputs from agencies
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