As many as 15 people are feared dead including up to five volunteer firefighters after a giant explosion at a fertilizer plant inflicted massive devastation on the town of West, Texas last night, leaving hundreds with horrific injuries.
The blast, which was felt 50 miles away and registered as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, destroyed as many as 75 homes and buildings, leveled an apartment complex, forced a nursing home to evacuate its residents and blanketed the area in a cloud of toxic fumes.
The three to five missing volunteer firefighters were attending a blaze at the plant at about 7.50pm local time when it suddenly exploded into a fireball – thought to be caused by dangerous anhydrous ammonia igniting in the heat of the fire.
As many as 179 people have been treated for injuries in hospitals, but Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton from Waco’s police department warned that he expects the total number of deaths and injuries to rise when daylight breaks and emergency teams are able to conduct a proper search.
The explosion at West Fertilizer Co. shook the ground in the small community of 2,800 people located about 20 miles north of Waco, and around 1,300 residents have now been evacuated.
The tragedy raised fears of another U.S. terror attack just days after the Boston bombs that killed three people, and comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege, but Mr Swanton said the blast was more likely to be a terrible industrial accident.