McEWEN, Tenn. (AP) — An explosion that leveled an explosives facility in rural Tennessee on Friday left 19 people missing and feared dead, authorities said.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems, which supplies the military, was one of the worst scenes he had ever seen. He said several people had been killed but declined to say how many, describing the 19 missing as “souls” as officials were still speaking to the family.
“There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone,” Davis said of the building.
The explosion occurred about 7:45 a.m., Davis said. Aerial footage from WTVF-TV showed the smoldering hilltop facility and burned-out shells from vehicles.
People reported hearing and feeling the explosion from miles away. The company’s website says it processes explosives and ammunition at an eight-building facility spread over forested hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville.
Davis said investigators were trying to figure out what happened but couldn’t say what caused the explosion. Emergency responders were initially unable to enter the facility because of ongoing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone.
According to Gray Collier, a spokesman for the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency, there was no longer any danger of an explosion as of Friday afternoon and the scene was under control.
Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment Friday morning.
According to public records, Accurate Energetic Systems has received numerous military contracts, mostly from the U.S. Army and Navy, to supply various types of ammunition and explosives. The products ranged from mass explosives to landmines to miniature explosive 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 noisy boom of the blast on their home cameras.
The explosion woke Gentry Stover from his sleep.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me in it,” he said by phone. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that this must have been it.”
State Rep. Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighboring town of Dickson, was concerned about the potential economic impact since the plant is a major employer in the area.
“We live probably 15 miles away as the crow flies and heard it right outside the house,” Barrett said. “It sounded like something was going through the roof of our house.”
There is a long history of fatal workplace accidents in the United States, including the Monongah coal mine explosion that killed 362 men and boys in West Virginia in 1907. Several high-profile workplace accidents in the 1960s prompted President Richard Nixon to sign another law creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the following year.
In 2019, Accurate Energetic Systems was hit with several miniature fines by the U.S. Department of Labor for violating guidelines designed to protect workers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, radiation and other irritants, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations.
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Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield, in Cockeysville, Maryland; Hannah Schoenbaum, in Salt Lake City; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and (*19*) Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
