A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, killed as many as 15 people, injured 160 more, and leveled buildings for blocks in every direction. See the dramatic photos.
Larry W. Smith/EPA, via Landov
Officials say more than 160 people were injured and at least 5 were killed in the blast, which erupted around 8 p.m. and was triggered by a fire at the plant. This video image provided by WFAA-TV shows injured people being treated on a floodlit high school football field turned into a staging area in West, Texas.
WFAA-TV, via AP
Firefighters check a destroyed apartment complex near the fertilizer plant. Rescuers conducted door-to-door searches early Thursday, looking for both the living and the dead in the surrounding areas.
A fire still burns in a apartment complex destroyed near the fertilizer plant in this photo from early Thursday morning. Police said that flames still smoldering in the leveled plant could set off further explosions as well as emit hazardous gases into the town, roughly half of which was evacuated overnight.
LM Otero/AP
Blown out plate-glass windows lay shattered on the sidewalk and street after West Fertilizer Co. exploded in West, Texas.
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With smoke rising in the distance, a law-enforcement officer runs a checkpoint at the perimeter about half a mile from West Fertilizer Co. A spokesman for the Texas Public Department of Safety said the damage was comparable to the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City. “There is no evidence indicating criminal activity,” said Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department, “but we’re not ruling that out.”
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Firefighters conduct a search-and-rescue mission at an apartment complex destroyed by the explosion.
LM Otero/AP
A firefighter stands on a rail line and surveys the remains of the fertilizer plant.
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Maria Galvan is hugged by an unidentified woman after an explosion at a fertilizer plant damaged the West Thrift Shop where she has worked for seventeen years in the town of West near Waco, Texas.
Galvin cleans up broken glass in the front of the West Thrift Shop after the windows were blown out during the fertilizer plant blast. Police have received some reports of looting following the explosion.
Larry W. Smith/EPA, via Landov
The deadly explosion Wednesday evening ripped through West, Texas, injuring more than 100 people, leveling dozens of homes, and damaging other buildings including a school and nursing home, according to authorities.
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Firefighters use flashlights early Thursday morning to search a destroyed apartment complex. The massive explosion shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake, registering a magnitude 2.1 seismic tremor.
LM Otero/AP
