Multiple people are dead or missing after a massive blast at a US military explosives plant, officials have said, sending emergency responders rushing to the site and prompting warnings for the public to avoid the area.
Aerial footage broadcast by US media showed smouldering debris at the blast site in Hickman County, Tennessee, with charred and destroyed vehicles strewn across the facility.
“We can confirm there has been an explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems in the Bucksnort area,” the local sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
“Emergency services are currently on the scene working to address the situation,” it added.
The mayor’s office in Hickman County told AFP that it could not immediately confirm any fatalities or the cause of the explosion.
But Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reported “some” fatalities.
He added that several people were missing in the “very devastating blast” that engulfed an entire building at the facility.
“We do have several people at this time that’s unaccounted for,” Mr Davis told reporters.
He said: “We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation.
“We do have some that are deceased.
“But we’re going to go back and like I say, talk to these families, notify these families.”
Mr Davis said authorities had secured the area, but warned of the possibility of smaller explosions around the site.
Accurate Energetic Systems, an explosives manufacturer founded in 1980, did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
The company’s Facebook page says it manufactures “various high explosive compositions and specialty products” for the US Department of Defense, now rebranded as the Department of War, as well as US industrial markets.