A “massive” explosion at a Tennessee military supplier plant has left at least 19 “souls” dead or missing, officials say.
The devastating blast that occurred at the Accurate Energetic Systems facility in the Bucksnort area just before 8 a.m. local time rocked the close-knit communities in Humphreys County and neighboring Hickman County.
At least 19 people were reported missing and multiple others were hospitalized, according to Humphreys County Emergency Management officials. The official number of victims is not yet known.
“We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said earlier in the day. “We do have some that are deceased.”
Davis said at a later press conference that he personally knew three families impacted by the blast and he described the task of dealing with grieving loved ones as “hell.”
Video from the scene showed the remains of the plant, much of which was still on fire, with thick black smoke also visible. The eight-building facility is located around 60 miles southwest of Nashville.
The sheriff said it was one of the most devastating scenes he’s ever seen. When asked to describe the building where the explosion happened, he responded, “There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone.”
He later told reporters the explosion, which was felt miles away and showed up on weather radar, left a “half-mile square” of debris, with some of the wreckage found off-site.
First responders couldn’t enter the plant at first because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart told the Associated Press.
There was no further danger of explosions and the scene was under control by Friday afternoon.
The cause of the explosion remains unknown as the search of the property and investigation into the blast will continue through the night.
Tennessee residents reported hearing the blast from miles away. Beyonica Holt, who lives around 15 miles from the plant, said she “thought we were at war” and that “I was going to die.”
“I was standing in my bedroom. It shook the whole house. I thought it was going to blow out my windows — it didn’t, but that’s how big it was,” she told The Tennessean.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee wrote on X Friday afternoon he was “monitoring” the situation and asked Tennesseans to “join us in prayer for the families impacted by this tragic incident.”
Accurate Energetic Systems has supplied munitions and explosives, including landmines and C4, to the military, largely the Army and Navy, the AP reported, citing public records.
Friday’s explosion marked the second of its kind in less than a decade. In April 2014, a fire at the plant killed one man and injured four others, local outlet WSMV reported.
