Multiple people are feared dead following an explosion at a Tennessee explosives manufacturer early Friday morning.
“We do have some folks, we can confirm that we do have some that are deceased,” said Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis at a news conference on Friday.
Shortly after the explosion, Davis took to social media to tell people to “avoid the area to allow emergency responders to do their work.”
Video footage shared by a local media outlet shows that the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems, located on the Hickman and Humphreys County line in Tennessee, caused widespread devastation, with cars ablaze in the area.
According to Humphreys County EMA Director Odell Poyner the explosion was reported at around 7:50 a.m., and 19 employees inside the building remain unaccounted for.
“Right now we’re prioritizing people that are involved, their families and trying to be very compassionate toward them,” said the county sheriff, urging on Facebook that “nobody post anything about missing or any type of status of personnel please.”
Accurate Energetic Systems develops, manufactures, handles, and stores high-quality energetic products utilized in both defense and commercial markets, according to its website.
Residents in Lobelville, a city 20 minutes from the scene, said they felt their homes shake when the explosion occurred, and smaller explosions could be heard after the initial blast, the Associated Press reported.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” a resident who lives close to Accurate Energetic Systems told CBS.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known, and the county sheriff says the investigation could take days.
