Multiple people dead or missing after blast at Tennessee military explosives plant

LAST UPDATE | 23 hrs ago

NINETEEN PEOPLE WERE missing and an unspecified number were killed after a massive blast ripped through a US military explosives plant on Friday, officials said, with emergency responders at work at the site.

The blast occurred today at Accurate Energetic Systems, a company that makes and tests explosives.

Residents miles away reported feeling the explosion.

Its cause is not yet known.

Aerial footage broadcast by US media showed smoldering debris at the factory in Hickman County, Tennessee, with charred and mangled vehicles strewn across the facility.

“At this time we have been able to confirm that we do have 19 souls that we’re looking for,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters.

“There are fatalities. I don’t want to put a number to that… I can tell you right now we are looking for 19 individuals.”

The explosion occurred at the plant prompted official warnings for the public to avoid the area amid fears of secondary explosions.

“We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference.

He later said that authorities could confirm that there are 19 dead or missing.

“I can tell you that we’ve had, there are fatalities. I don’t want to put a number to that… I can tell you right now we are looking for 19 individuals,” Davis said.

The company’s website says it makes and tests explosives at the eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles south-west of Nashville.

Video from the scene showed flames and heavy smoke rising from a debris field.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone.

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The sheriff added that although the scene was secure from large explosions, smaller ones may still be heard.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on Friday morning.

“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email. He referred further comment to a county official.

Nashville-based WTVF-TV broadcast images of debris strewn about the site, with damaged vehicles in a ca park. The news station said it received calls from people in the area who felt a large explosion.

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.

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” resident Gentry Stover said.

“I live very close to Accurate and I realised about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

State Representative Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighbouring town of Dickson, said the plant is a key employer in the area.

“We live probably 15 miles as the crow flies and we absolutely heard it at the house,” Barrett said. “It sounded like something going through the roof of our house.”

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) confirmed there were injuries but was not sharing any numbers because the Department of Health had not confirmed them, spokesperson Kristin Coulter said.

TEMA district co-ordinators have deployed to the area at the request of Hickman County, she said.

Public records show that Accurate Energetic Systems has been awarded numerous military contracts going back years to manufacture a different types of munitions and explosives.

The contracts, which were awarded largely by the US Army and Navy, were for a variety of products that ranged from bulk explosives to landmines and small breaching charges.

The company also uses the sprawling campus to test explosives, according to its website, measuring the velocity of explosions as well as their impact on surrounding areas under different conditions.

The website noted that it “rigorously adheres to the stringent security standards” of defence department security and safety protocols.

Officials at Pentagon said that they were aware of the reports and were looking into the situation.

With reporting by PA

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