Many evacuated after explosion at fertilizer plant

An explosion at a fertilizer plant leveled dozens of homes in a small Texas town late on Wednesday, killing as many as 15 people, injuring more than 160 others and spewing toxic fumes that forced the evacuation of half the community, authorities said.

Police initially estimated that between five and 15 people perished in the blast, which rocked the town of West, located about 32 km north of Waco and 130 km south of Dallas, shortly before 8 pm on Wednesday.

Public safety officials said they expected the death toll to climb as search teams combed through the rubble of the demolished West Fertilizer Co plant and surrounding homes.

"I've never seen anything like this," McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said. "It looks like a war zone with all the debris."

Ground motion from the blast, triggered by a fire of unknown origin at the plant, registered as a magnitude-2.1 seismic tremor that was felt in Dallas and beyond, the US Geological Survey reported.

Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton said investigators would examine whether the blaze was the result of foul play or a chemical reaction, adding that the blast site was being treated as a crime scene for the time being.

"We are not indicating that it is a crime, but we don't know," Swanton told reporters early on Thursday, some nine hours after the blast. "What that means to us is that until we know it is an industrial accident, we will work it as a crime scene." He said there was no immediate evidence of a crime.

Firefighter deaths

Among those believed to be dead are group of volunteer firefighters and a single law enforcement officer who responded to a fire call at the plant about an hour before the blast. They remained unaccounted for on Thursday morning.

The toll included 50 to 75 houses, an apartment complex with about 50 units that one state police officer said was reduced to "a skeleton", a middle school and the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, from which first responders evacuated 133 patients, some in wheelchairs.

Other witnesses compared the scene to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and authorities said the plant made materials similar to those used in the bomb that tore apart that city's Murrah Federal Building.

Authorities said it will be some time before they know the full extent of the loss of life, and West Mayor Tommy Muska told reporters that his city of about 2,800 residents needs "your prayers".

"We've got a lot of people who are hurt, and there's a lot of people, I'm sure, who aren't gonna be here tomorrow," Muska said. "We're going to search for everybody. We're going to make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now."

Grim anniversary

The explosion came two days before the 20th anniversary of a fire in nearby Waco that engulfed a compound inhabited by David Koresh and his followers in the Branch Davidian sect, ending a siege by federal agents.

Officials said flames that continued to smolder inside the fertilizer plant initially posed two threats: the possibility of setting off further explosions and the emission of hazardous fumes into the town.

Swanton said a residual fire burning underneath additional chemical tanks had been brought under control, "and I don't think that is any longer a threat".

Texas Public Safety Department spokesman D.L. Wilson said about half the town, about eight to 10 blocks, had been evacuated and that the other side of the town may have to be evacuated if winds shift.

But emergency management personnel determined that the smoke presented no immediate danger to the public, Swanton said.

Officials said a full assessment of property damage would not come until after dawn.

Reuters-AP

(China Daily 04/19/2013 page10)