By ADRIAN SAINZ and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press
McEWEN, Tenn. (AP) — The blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around left no survivors, authorities said Saturday.
The total number of dead was unclear, as was the cause of the Friday blast. By the weekend, the devastation came into focus, with officials saying they had found no survivors. A total of 16 people were missing, officials said.
“There’s a gauntlet of emotions there,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a news conference, pausing to clear his throat before he asked for prayers for the families of the victims in a shaky voice.
“We’ve recovered no survivors,” he added.
During a vigil at Hurricane Chapel in McEwen, senior pastor Tim Farris noted that many in attendance know each other and the victims and their families.
“There’s a lot of people hurting. A lot of people who are crying a lot of tears,” he said. “We are sad that our community is going through this, but it’s a tremendous opportunity for the church to minister to a lot of those people today.”
Farris said he spoke with some families of victims on Friday who were in shock and numb, and they did not show much emotion. That had changed by Saturday, he said.
“Speaking with some of the families today, they were very emotional,” Farris said. “They can hardly speak or anything, they are so emotional. I think as this goes on it’s going to hit more people. The depth of this, the reality of it. That’s when they’re going to need people the most.”
Pamela Jane Brown was among those who came out to pray for friends missing in the blast and their families. She said an acquaintance of her family was driving by the plant when it exploded, and he was “hurt pretty good … all cut up and bruised,” but is now recovering at home.
“I was heartbroken,” she said, after learning of the explosion on social media. Meeting others for prayer “was a coming together of the community – a good feeling.”
State officials brought in a “rapid DNA” team to help identify the remains of people recovered at the site.
The explosion left a smoldering wreck of twisted metal and burned-out vehicles at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant, which supplies and researches explosives for the military.
Davis said about 300 responders are working in a “slow, methodical method” as they deal with explosive material that has been damaged and remains volatile. An ambulance and a helicopter used for air evacuations were brought in, for the safety of first responders.
“It’s not like working an accident. It’s not like working a tornado. We’re dealing with explosions. And I would say at this time, we’re dealing with remains,” he said.
Guy McCormick, a supervisory special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said explosive specialists and bomb technicians are trying to make the area safe before national ATF investigators arrive. He said the nature of the scene can change because of the heat and pressure caused by the explosion.
Davis said it could be days, weeks or even months before foul play is ruled out.
The site is located in a heavily wooded area of middle Tennessee, between the economically vital Tennessee River to the west and the bustling metropolis of Nashville to the east. Modest homes dot the wooded landscape, residences belonging to “good old country people,” as local man Terry Bagsby put it.
‘A lot of grief’
Bagsby, 68, is retired but he helps out working the register at a gas station near the site. He said people in the close-knit community are “very, very sad.”
He said he knows people who worked at the site and are missing.
“I don’t know how to explain it. … Just a lot of grief.”
Earlier Saturday afternoon at the church in McEwen, about 30 people prayed together for the victims of the explosions and their families. As they prayed, music played and mourners bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Some knelt at an altar, placing their hands on each others’ shoulders. Some wept softly, among the whispered prayers.
After the vigil, Farris, the pastor, told media that the area has seen its share of tragedy and loss of life, including a deadly flood a few years ago. He asked for prayers for first responders.
“This is tiresome physically. This kind of thing weighs on you mentally. They carry that home. They need prayer and encouragement as well,” he said.
The company’s website says it processes explosives and ammunition at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville. It is not immediately known how many people work at the plant or how many were there when the explosion happened.
Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, said in a post on social media on Friday that their “thoughts and prayers” are with the families and community impacted.
“We extend our gratitude to all first responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions,” the post said.
Explosion jolts residents from sleep
The company has been awarded numerous military contracts, largely by the U.S. Army and Navy, to supply different types of munitions and explosives, according to public records. The products range from bulk explosives to landmines and small breaching charges, including C4.
When the explosion occurred, 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.
The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he told The Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate, and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee posted on the social platform X that he is monitoring the situation and asked “Tennesseans to join us in prayer for the families impacted by this tragic incident.”
A small group gathered for a vigil Friday night at a nearby park, clutching candles as they prayed for the missing and their families and sang “Amazing Grace.”
The U.S. has a long history of deadly accidents at workplaces, including the Monongah coal mine explosion that killed 362 men and boys in West Virginia in 1907. Several high-profile industrial accidents in the 1960s helped lead President Richard Nixon to sign a law creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the next year.
In 2019, Accurate Energetic Systems faced several small fines from the U.S. Department of Labor for violations of policies meant to protect workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, radiation and other irritants, according to citations from OSHA.
In 2014, an explosion occurred at another ammunition facility in the same small community, killing one person and injuring at least three others.
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Associated Press writers Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Sarah Brumfield, in Cockeysville, Maryland; Hannah Schoenbaum, in Salt Lake City; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.