Rescuers race to find Texas survivors

TEXAS, USA – Rescuers in Texas on Thursday, April 18, combed through rubble in a painstaking search for survivors after a massive blast at a fertilizer factory killed as many as 15 people and destroyed dozens of homes.

With the country already on edge after the deadly Boston Marathon attacks, the factory exploded Wednesday with the force of a 2.1-magnitude earthquake, devastating much of the small town of West and sending up a toxic cloud.

On Thursday afternoon, smoke was still billowing out of the plant’s ruins, a nearby house had its roof torn off, and a huge chunk of metal had been dropped in the middle of a corn field.

Authorities said they feared they could find more bodies in the rubble of homes and businesses leveled by the explosion, which may have been sparked by a fire that broke out at the West Fertilizer plant in the southwest US state.

Much of West was evacuated overnight as an acrid cloud hung over the area, and Texas Governor Rick Perry said Thursday that local schools would remain closed for the remainder of the week.

“Last night was truly a nightmare scenario for that community,” Perry told a press conference in the state capital Austin, announcing that he was seeking a federal disaster declaration which would make additional funds available.

“This tragedy has most likely hit every family, it has touched practically everyone in that town,” Perry said.

Toll to rise

Police sergeant W. Patrick Swanton of nearby Waco said the tragedy killed “anywhere from five to 15” people, but said he expected that toll to rise. Hospitals have treated more than 160 casualties with varying injuries, he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, rescuers were still conducting a massive search and rescue operation, hoping to find survivors in the remains of a nearby nursing home, apartment complex and the plant itself.

McLennan County deputy sheriff Matt Cawthon said the devastated area had been “highly populated” and was “still a very volatile situation” because of the presence of ammonium nitrate, an explosive fertilizer ingredient.

A US National Guard contingent of 20 troops trained to aid in emergencies and incidents involving weapons of mass destruction was dispatched to the scene to monitor for hazardous emissions.

Officials said they do not yet know what caused the explosion, but are treating the factory site as a crime scene until they rule out foul play.

Other officials pointed to anhydrous ammonia, a chemical used in the production of fertilizer that could have been ignited by the fire at the facility, which burned for nearly an hour before the blast.

The blast was felt up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, and an expert at the US Geological Survey told AFP the force of the explosion had registered as a 2.1-magnitude seismic event.

Some 60-75 people have been left homeless by the disaster, according to Mark Felton, director of the local Red Cross chapter.

President Barack Obama offered the prayers of the nation to the people of West, a town of about 2,800 people, which is home to a thriving Czech community dating back to the late 1800s, when immigrants settled the American frontier.

“A tight-knit community has been shaken, and good, hard-working people have lost their lives,” he said, offering federal emergency assistance.

The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company came with the nation still raw with emotion after the Boston marathon bombings Monday, which left three people dead and scores maimed.

Americans also were on edge after letters apparently laced with the deadly poison ricin were sent to Obama and a US senator. A 45-year-old Mississippi man has been arrested and charged with threatening the president’s life.

Witnesses to the Texas explosion said they were stunned by the sheer force of the blast.

Like a mushroom cloud

Andy Bartee, who had stopped at a convenience store about five miles from the explosion, said the blast shut off the lights and made the building shake.

“You could feel it in your chest and ears,” he told the Dallas Morning News.

“It looked like a mushroom cloud. It looked like an atom bomb had been dropped. I’ve never seen or felt anything like that.”

D. L. Wilson, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety who was among the first people on the scene, described the devastation as “massive. Just like Iraq. Just like the Murrah building in Oklahoma City.”

The April 19, 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City by anti-government extremists killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds more.

Friday is the also the 20th anniversary of a deadly confrontation in Waco between federal authorities and heavily armed members of the Branch Davidian religious group, a botched showdown that inspired the Oklahoma City bombing.

In the 1993 Waco siege, following a 51-day standoff, the group’s compound burned down after an assault was launched. – Rappler.com