No survivors found after Tennessee explosives plant blast
It is not expected that any survivors will be found after the massive explosion that occurred at an ammunition factory in Tennessee on Friday, leaving 18 people unaccounted for.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference Saturday that rescuers do not expect to find any of the missing alive, but they are not giving up hope.
“As we get into this, we find that the situation is more devastating than we initially thought,” Sheriff Davis said.
It’s still unclear what caused the explosion at the facility in Bucksnort, Tennessee, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville. The facility specializes in the development, production, transportation and storage of explosives.
In the video footage taken on Friday, it can be seen that the fires are still continuing, vehicles are burning and smoke is rising from the destroyed building. Authorities said debris was scattered about a half-mile radius of where the building once stood.
Accurate Energetic Systems, which operated the facility, ceased operations.
More than 300 state and local first responders have searched the scene of the explosion since Friday morning and found no survivors, Sheriff Davis said Saturday morning.
“We can assume that everyone who was inside that building is dead,” he told the media.
Visibly choked, Davis said Saturday morning the rescue mission had shifted to a recovery operation.
The FBI is also conducting rapid DNA tests in the area to identify victims and notify families.
“We’re trying to focus on taking care of their families as much as possible,” Sheriff Jason Craft of neighboring Hickman County told the BBC. he said.
Residents of a town about 15 miles (25 km) away could hear the explosion, Davis said.
A local resident who lives about 20 minutes away from the facility told the BBC that her daughter was sitting at the dining table when she heard the sound.
“All of a sudden we heard a loud explosion. We didn’t know if it was a gun or something else,” he said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms launched an investigation into the incident at the scene.
There had previously been a fatal explosion in a unit in the same location in 2014.
