At least nine people are de@d after a massive explosion erupted at a Tennessee bomb factory early Friday morning, October 10.
The blast went off at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant, located about 60 miles southwest of Nashville near the town of Bucksnort, around 7.50am local time.
Authorities confirmed there have been ‘multiple’ fatalities and several people are hospitalized, WSMV reported.
At least 19 employees currently remain unaccounted for, according to Humphreys County emergency management director Odell Poyner.
The initial blast was so enormous that locals reported hearing and feeling it from dozens of miles away.
Footage from the scene showed a burning debris field with smoke billowing into the air. Several cars and buildings appear to have been damaged in the blast.
Emergency crews are on site and have urged the public to stay away as they work the scene. Their main concern is the potential for secondary explosions.
First responders have rushed to aid those impacted by the explosion.
‘Right now we’re prioritizing people that are involved, their families, and trying to be very compassionate toward them,’ Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said.
The Hickman County Sheriff’s Office has asked locals to avoid the area to allow responders to do their work.
Emergency responders were not yet able to go in to the plant because there continue to be explosions, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart told AP.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has also shut down State Route 230, just north of I-40, as first responders work the scene.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has also been dispatched to the plant.
Officials expect to the investigation to take several days.
‘We’re at the beginning stages of all of this,’ Hickman County Sheriff Jason Craft said Friday morning. ‘We’re getting information minute-by-minute and we’re going to continue to build on that and do what we need to do.’
He urged the community to ‘keep everyone in your prayers as we go through this [over] the next few days.’
Hickman County Mayor Jim Bates said his office has received multiple calls from residents claiming that they felt the ground shake.
‘It’s an unfortunate incident. It was felt around our county,’ the mayor said. ‘We just pray that the good Lord keeps their hand on the families that’s involved.’
Residents in Lobelville, a more than a 20-minute drive from the military explosives manufacturing plant, said they felt their homes shake.
‘I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,’ Gary Stover, who claimed the blast rattled him from his sleep, told AP. ‘I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.’
