Multiple people were killed and several others were missing after an explosion at an ammunition plant in Tennessee on Friday morning, the authorities said.
A number of people were missing after a “devastating blast” at Accurate Energetic Systems, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, a county sheriff said. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said Friday afternoon that “19 souls” were still unaccounted for at the plant, operated by Accurate Energetic Systems. He later used the word “missing” to describe the employees.
The explosion took place around 7:45 a.m. at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant on the Hickman/Humphreys county line. According to the company’s website, Accurate Energetic Systems makes and tests explosives at the eight-building facility, which sprawls across wooded hills near Bucksnort, a town about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.
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.