Nineteen people are missing after a blast at a military explosives manufacturing facility in Tennessee on Friday.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said four or five people were taken to a nearby hospital after the enormous explosion that levelled a factory, and that several are deceased.
“There’s nothing to describe, it’s gone,” he said.
The plant in Bucksnort, Tennessee – roughly 56 miles (90km) south west of Nashville – specialises in the development, manufacture, handling and storage of explosives. The cause of the blast remains unclear.
Aerial video from the scene showed charred debris, smouldering vehicles and little remaining of the facility, which is owned by Accurate Energetic Systems.
Sheriff Davis, who was visibly emotional during his first media briefing of the day, declined to say exactly how many people died.
But he noted that the plant had been up and running when the explosion happened. The individuals, he said, had just come to work and “now may be missing or deceased”.
“A lot of times, when I have these types of situations, I refer to them more than just a person…we’re missing 19 souls,” Davis said.
Casey Stapp, director of media relations at TriStar Health in nearby Dickson, said two walk-in patients were treated for “minor injuries” from the explosion and have been released.
A third walk-in patient, Stapp said, is still being treated for minor injuries.
Local news media said patients were also being treated at other hospitals in the area and that residents who lived more than 20 miles away from the site could feel the explosion.
The factory, which sat on about 1300 acres of land, produced C-4, TNT and other high-grade military and commercial explosives and stored them there.
Accurate Energetics Systems has now ceased operations, the sheriff said. It is believed that the company employed about 75 people.
“They are focusing on their families, their employees,” Davis said.
The explosion took place on the border of Hickman and Humphreys Counties and prompted a massive response from local and federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Officers are expected to remain on the scene for several days, with a number of teams trying to figure out what happened, Davis said, promising a “slow and methodical” investigation.
Another blast took place at the same location in 2014. at a unit which was being operated by a company called Rio Ammunition.
Reports from the time said one man was killed and three were injured in that blast.
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