A blast at an explosives plant in rural Tennessee left 19 people missing and feared dead, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said the blast at Accurate Energetic Systems, which supplies the military, was one of the worst scenes he had ever seen.<\/p>\n
He said multiple people were killed but declined to say how many, referring to the 19 missing as “souls” because officials were still speaking to family members.<\/p>\n
“There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone,” Mr Davis said of the plant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations. (AP)<\/p>\n
The blast occurred about 7:45 am local time, Mr Davis said, with aerial footage by WTVF-TV showing the smouldering hilltop facility and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.<\/p>\n
People reported hearing and feeling the explosion from miles away.<\/p>\n
The company’s website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 97 kilometres south-west of Nashville.<\/p>\n
Mr Davis said investigators were trying to determine what caused the explosion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Accurate Energetic Systems supplies munitions to the US military. \u00a0 (AFP: Brett Carlsen)<\/p>\n
There were no further danger of explosions, and the scene was under control, according to Grey Collier, a spokesperson for the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of ongoing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said.<\/p>\n
He did not have any details on casualties.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
County Sheriff Chris Davis (right) said “there’s nothing to describe, it’s gone’. (AFP: Brett Carlsen)<\/p>\n
“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email.<\/p>\n
He referred further comment to a county official.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.<\/p>\n
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The explosion happened around 40 kilometres west of Nashville in America’s South. (AP)<\/p>\n
“I live very close to Accurate and I realised about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”<\/p>\n
State representative Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighbouring town of Dickson, was worried about the possible economic impact because the plant is a key employer in the area.<\/p>\n
“We live probably 15 miles (24km) as the crow flies and we absolutely heard it at the house,” Barrett said.<\/p>\n
“It sounded like something going through the roof of our house.”<\/p>\n
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