Multiple people were killed and several others were missing after an explosion at an ammunition plant in Tennessee on Friday morning, the authorities said.
The explosion, which Sheriff Chris Davis of Humphreys County, Tenn., described as a “very devastating blast,” was reported around 7:45 a.m. at a plant operated by Accurate Energetic Systems about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.
“We can confirm that we do have some that are deceased,” Sheriff Davis said at a news conference, though he did not say how many people had been killed.
“We do have the scene as secure as possible at this time,” the sheriff said. “You may hear some smaller explosions around the scene, but they are things that we have taken into consideration. We know that it’s secure — the scene is secure as far as no more mass explosions or larger explosions.”
Accurate Energetic Systems, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, was cooperating with the investigation into the explosion, Sheriff Davis said.
“They want to figure out this just as much as we are,” he said.
According to its website, Accurate Energetic Systems was founded in 1980 and specializes in “in the development, manufacture, handling and storage of a diverse array of energetic products and explosives for military, aerospace and commercial demolition markets.”
“We’ve got a very big investigation. This is not going to be something that we’re going to be —like a car wreck or something like that — that we are just going to clean up the debris and leave,” Sheriff Davis said.
David Stewart, an advanced emergency medical technician in Hickman County, Tenn., which shares a border with Humphreys County, said in a brief interview that several agencies and emergency crews were at the scene of the explosion, but they had not been able to enter the building as of 11 a.m. local time because they were assessing whether it was safe to do so. When the authorities first arrived, Mr. Stewart said, there were still explosions at the scene.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.