‘Nuclear bomb’ like explosion in US leaves at least 15 people dead

“It was like a nuclear bomb went off….Big old mushroom cloud,” Muska said as he described the explosion at West Fertilizer plant.

Sgt William Patrick Swanton of the nearby Waco Police Department said between five and 15 people had died while George Smith,the emergency management system director of the city,said fire officials fear that the number of casualties could rise as high as 60 to 70 dead.

As many as five volunteer firefighters were unaccounted for.

“They are still getting injured folks out and they are evacuating people from their homes,” Swanton said.

“At some point this will turn into a recovery operation,but at this point,we are still in search and rescue.”

There was no indication that the blast was anything other than an industrial accident,but the area was being treated as a crime scene,a routine precaution,Swanton said.

Even as evacuations and triage continued,officials estimated the number of injured at more than 160,some of whom were critical and shifted to close by hospital via helicopter.

Muska told reporters that his devastated city needs the prayers of everyone.

The United States Geological Survey said the explosion last night at 8 pm at the plant shook houses nearly 81 km away and measured as a 2.1-magnitude seismic event.

What caused the blast was not immediately known,CNN reported.

The fire was reported at about 6 pm at the factory,and volunteer firefighters immediately responded,But they faced a difficult job because of the danger from the chemicals,including ammonia,used in the production of fertilizer.

West,a township of mostly Czech immigrants,is a community of about 2,800 people,about 130 kilometres south of Dallas. Authorities are going door to door in the area checking on residents.

The blast knocked out power to a large area surrounding the plant.

The property damage was fierce including at least 50 to 75 houses. An apartment complex with about 50 units was

stripped to its skeletal support,according to video from the scene. A middle school was hard hit.

A member of the city council,Al Vanek,said there is a four-block area around the explosion “that is totally

decimated.”

Department of Public Safety spokesman D L Wilson said the damage was comparable to the destruction caused by the 1995 bomb blast that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Muska said 131 people were safely evacuated from a local nursing home,according to Waco Tribune.

Even though officials have turned off all the gas,they worry another tank at the facility might explode.

“What we are hearing is that there is one fertilizer tank that is still intact at the plant,and there are evacuations in place to make sure everyone gets away from the area safely in case of another explosion,” said Ben Stratmann,a spokesman for Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell.

If the winds shift,the other half of the town will have to be evacuated as well.

State troopers in gas masks manned roadblocks,waving away cars coming off the highway.

The Federal Aviation Administration instituted a flight restriction over the town. Authorities closed schools for the rest of the week,and urged everyone to stay away from school property.

Initial fears about dangerous fumes from the fire had been allayed with authorities saying “air uality at this point is not an issue”.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said in a statement that state resources were being made available to local authorities.

“Our thoughts and prayer are with the people of West”,he said.

A white House official said the Obama administration was aware of the situation and monitoring local and state

responses through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The explosion stunned the region,eerily coming almost exactly 20 years after the massacre in Waco,about 20 miles

away.

Seventy-six members of the Branch Davidians died in 1993 after a 50-day siege of their compound. April 19 is also the

anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building on Oklahoma Citywhere 168 people were killed in 1995.