Fertilizer Plant Explosion: Hunt For Survivors On; Blast Was Felt 45 Miles Away

After a fertilizer plant exploded in the town of West, Texas on Wednesday evening, killing at least15 people and injuring 160 others, emergency teams today were combing through the rubble of a 4-block area as they searched for possible survivors. The blast could be felt as far as 45 miles from the explosion, which shook the earth with the force of a 2.1-magnitude earthquake. Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department said this morning that teams were still in "search-and-rescue mode" and that fires were still burning at the plant, though they were relatively under control.

McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told the LA Times that more than 200 law enforcement officers from throughout Texas are on the scene of the explosion, attempting to recover bodies from the debris and rescue survivors. McNamara added that a full count of the dead and missing would not be ready until later in the day. The newspaper also reported that a thunderstorm which had moved over the area was hampering rescue efforts.

The explosion was preceded by a fire at the plant in West, which is located about 20 miles north of Waco and 80 miles south of Dallas. Volunteer firefighters arrived to the scene to combat the fire. 3 to 5 of them were later reported missing. Local EMS director George Smith confirmed that 2 paramedics were among the fatalities, while another was later located in a local hospital with serious injuries, according to USA Today.

Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said there were indications that the fire and subsequent explosion may have involved a railroad tanker carrying anhydrous ammonia, an odorless gas used n making fertilizer. Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were investigating the explosion. Officials said there was no reason to believe that the blast was product of criminal activity, though they were not ruling out the possibility.

In an article in the New York Times, D. L. Wilson, a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, compared the destruction to scenes he had witnessed in Iraq and in Oklahoma City during the 1995 terrorist bombing there. "I can tell you, I was there, I walked through the blast area, I searched some houses earlier tonight. It was massive, just like Iraq, just like the Murrah building in Oklahoma City," Wilson said.

Half of West has been evacuated due to fears that the thunderstorm's heavy winds would spread toxic fumes far from the site of the explosion.