A satellite image showed the devastating aftermath of the blast at a Tennessee explosives factory that police have confirmed left ‘no survivors’.
After the explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant occurred around 7.50am local time on Friday, eighteen people were initially reported missing. However, at a press conference on Saturday, police confirmed they were now searching for remains.
It was the second blast at the explosives factory site – about an hour southwest of Nashville, near the town of Bucksnort – in 12 years.
In April 2014, an explosion at the rural Tennessee facility killed Rodney Edwards and injured four others, WSMV reported.
That fatal incident happened in an area where shotgun ammunition was stored, the Humphreys County Sheriff said then.
His widow Kathryn Edwards told WSMV her husband Rodney ‘worked seven days a week’ and ‘would go in any time he was called’.
About a dozen people were inside the building, which was ‘pretty much destroyed’ in the blast, according to The Tennessean.
The explosion, which ignited two fires in an area operated by Rio Ammunition, also severely injured Joey Clark.
A satellite image showed the devastating aftermath of the blast at a Tennessee explosives factory
The Accurate Energetic Systems plant before the explosion
Clark lost his left eye and two fingers in the blast.
He said: ‘I was walking in the door where it flamed up.
‘I stopped to go get Rodney. I was going to turn around. I thought he was behind me.
That stop, thinking about him, probably saved my life.’
Five years ago, the Accurate Energetic Systems plant experienced a ‘costly and dangerous fire,’ as detailed in court documents accessed by The Tennessean.
James Creech, who worked in the company’s maintenance department and was responsible for quality control tests on the boilers at their McEwen site, filed a lawsuit after his employment ended following the fires.
The company alleged that Creech’s ‘failure to perform his job duties responsibly contributed to a costly and dangerous fire at AES’s facility’ on October 30, 2020.
The explosion happened around at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant around 7.50am local time Friday
The blast took place about an hour southwest of Nashville, near the town of Bucksnort
Creech’s attorneys argued that he ‘was never interviewed about the fire, his actions, or the deficiencies in the building and/or building materials that led to the fire.’
The lawsuit was settled after mediation.
A year prior, the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration had inspected the plant after two employees experienced ‘seizure events’ before their shifts on the same day, with a third employee having a seizure at home that morning.
The inspection found that five employees experienced ‘central nervous system impairment’ and had been potentially exposed to the toxic chemical cyclonite.
Accurate Energetic Systems contested the five ‘serious’ violations found and settled a lawsuit with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Humphreys County sheriff Chris Davis said during a press conference on Saturday that there were ‘no survivors’ from Friday’s explosion.
Davis said: ‘We can probably make the assumption – and I’m not even going to use the word assumption – I think that we can – well, I have to use that word, forgive me – we can assume that they are deceased.’
Humphreys County sheriff Chris Davis said during a press conference on Saturday that there were ‘no survivors’ recovered from Friday’s explosion
The Humphreys County sheriff said it ‘might be days or weeks or months’ before an investigation is concluded
Davis added that the scene of the blast was ‘more volatile as time has gone.’
He said: ‘As we get into this, we find it even more devastating than what we thought initially.’
The Humphreys County sheriff did not rule out foul play and said it ‘might be days or weeks or months’ before an investigation into the origin of the explosion was concluded.
Public records obtained by the Associated Press showed that Accurate Energetic Systems sold multiple types of weapons to the US military, including dynamite and landmines.
The bomb factory site, which is made up of eight buildings, takes up 1,300 acres in Bucksnort.
The company uses its ‘state-of-the-art’ rural Tennessee campus to test explosives, according to its website.
A message on Accurate Energetic Systems’s website addressed Friday’s blast: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, coworkers, and community members affected by this incident. We extend our gratitude to all first responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions.’
