Multiple people are dead following a “devastating blast” at an explosives manufacturing plant in Tennessee on Friday, as a desperate search and rescue effort is ongoing, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred Friday morning at Accurate Energetic Systems in McEwen, located about 50 miles west of Nashville.
As of Friday evening, 18 people remain unaccounted for after the blast, according to a statement from the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier, officials had said 19 people were unaccounted for after the explosion, but later said one person, who was initially believed to be at the plant, was located safe at home.
Authorities said they are still working to confirm exactly who was at the facility Friday morning and are working to notify family members.
“It’s probably been one of the most devastating situations that I’ve been on in my career,” Davis said during a press update Friday afternoon, getting emotional.
“I always wish for the best. Is there a possibility that somebody might be injured somewhere, or somebody that we don’t know about? Yes,” he later said regarding the missing individuals.
Authorities were continuing to search the property Friday afternoon for those unaccounted for, the sheriff said. The response remains a rescue effort, according to Davis, who said they want to “exhaust every asset” before it moves to recovery.
“We always want to keep that hope alive. We always want to keep the good Lord in our hearts and trying to make prayers that we can find some people,” he said.
Four to five people were brought to hospitals, according to the sheriff, who did not detail their injuries.
The sheriff said during an earlier briefing that this is 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’re just going to clean up the debris and leave. We’re going to probably be here for a few days,” he said.
“We’re trying to take as much time as is needed right now. We’re prioritizing people that are involved, their families and trying to be very compassionate toward them,” he continued.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are among the agencies that have responded to the scene, Davis said.
Accurate Energetic Systems is “cooperating with us in any way, in every way possible,” Davis said.
“They’re wanting to figure out this just as much as we are,” he added.
Its customers include the Defense Department and Homeland Security, according to the Association of the United States Army.
The explosion occurred at 7:48 a.m. local time and destroyed one of the facility’s buildings, officials said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he is monitoring the “tragic incident.”
Video from a Nest camera at a home in Lobelville, about 11 miles from the plant, captured shaking as an explosion can be heard.
“It felt like our house had some kind of explosion,” Lauren Roark told ABC News. “I jumped out of bed, asked my husband, ‘What was that?'”
Roark found what she believes to be debris from the explosion in her yard — “big chunks of insulation-looking stuff” — which she reported to authorities.
“The explosion was so loud and shook my home, I literally thought the back of my house had exploded,” she said.
“We’re a pretty tight-knit community and we’re all just devastated and heartbroken,” she said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
