Multiple people are dead or unaccounted for after a military explosives facility in Tennessee blew up Friday morning, rattling nearby homes and setting off smaller explosions, local officials say.
The explosion, which happened around 7:45 am local time, was a “devastating blast” but responders were able to secure the scene by late morning, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference on Friday.
“We do have several people at this time that’s unaccounted for,” Davis said. “We do have some folks, we can confirm that we do have some that are deceased.”
David Stewart with Hickman County Emergency Services said the office could not verify “the extent of damage or injuries” in a phone call earlier Friday morning.
The company, Accurate Energetic Systems, LLC, is located about an hour southwest of Nashville, Tennessee, on the Hickman and Humphreys County line, the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office told CNN.
Multiple agencies have responded to the scene and are working to assess and contain the fire but are currently holding back from the immediate area due to a concern over secondary explosions, the agency said.
Residents who live near the facility say they felt the impact of the explosion.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” Gentry Stover told The Associated Press by phone. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
Accurate Energetic Systems specializes in making military explosives, according to the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office.
The company’s Facebook page says it manufactures “various high explosive compositions and specialty products for the U.S. DoD and U.S. Industrial markets.”
The Hickman County Sheriff’s Office is asking everyone to avoid the area as emergency responders do their work.
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