19 people missing after blast levels Tennessee explosives facility

19 people went missing following an explosion at a military explosives production facility in Tennessee on Friday.

Four or five people were taken to a nearby hospital and several died after the massive explosion destroyed a factory, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said.

“There’s nothing to explain, he’s gone,” he said.

The facility in Bucksnort, Tennessee, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, specializes in the development, production, transportation and storage of explosives. The cause of the explosion remains unclear.

Aerial video of the scene showed charred debris, smoldering vehicles and little left of the facility, owned by Accurate Energetic Systems.

Sheriff Davis, visibly emotional at his first media briefing of the day, declined to say exactly how many people died.

However, he stated that the facility was operating when the explosion occurred. He said these people had just arrived at work and “may be missing or dead now.”

“Most of the time when I come across these types of situations, I refer to them as more than just one person…we’re missing 19 souls,” Davis said.

Casey Stapp, media relations director at TriStar Health near Dickson, said two patients from the explosion were treated for “minor injuries” and released.

A third patient is still being treated for minor injuries, Stapp said.

Local news media said patients were also being treated at other hospitals in the area and that residents living more than 20 miles away from the area could feel the explosion.

C-4, TNT and other high-quality military and commercial explosives were produced and stored here in the factory built on approximately 1300 decares of land.

Accurate Energetics Systems has now ceased operations, the sheriff said. The company is thought to employ approximately 75 people.

“They focus on their families and their employees,” Davis said.

The explosion occurred on the border of Hickman and Humphreys Counties and sparked a massive response from local and federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Davis promised a “slow and methodical” investigation, saying officers were expected to remain at the scene for several days and multiple teams were trying to figure out what happened.

In 2014, there was another explosion in the same place, in a unit operated by the company Rio Ammunition.

News at the time stated that one person died and three people were injured in the explosion.