The Texas explosion

Texas explosion death toll reaches 14 as recovery operation winds down

Officials hopeful that there may be no more fatalities from Wednesday's fertiliser plant blast

the Guardian,

20 April, 2013

Rescuers sifting through the rubble of the small Texas farming town that was shattered by a massive fertiliser plant explosion on Wednesday night recovered two more bodies on Friday to bring the official death toll to 14. More than 200 people were injured.

As the recovery operation wound down and the last of about 175 damaged homes were cleared, officials said they hoped there might be no more fatalities.

"There may be one or two more. It may be that nobody is missing," McLennan County judge Scott Felton told a press conference in West, about 20 miles north of Waco.

Earlier in the day, there were estimates that up to 60 people were still unaccounted for. "I'd be surprised if it's more than a few," Felton said. The confusion arose, he said, because relatives were reporting people missing because they had not been in touch. Many were later located in hotels or staying with friends.

Donald Adair, owner of the West Fertiliser Company, spoke for the first time about the blast, in giant tanks of ammonia-based chemicals, which sent a huge fireball high into the sky. The National Geological Survey recorded a seismic event of 2.1 magnitude.

"As a lifelong resident, my heart is broken with grief for the tragic losses to so many families in our community. Our hearts go out to everyone who has suffered," Adair said. He also paid tribute to first responders and rescue workers.

Rick Perry, the Texas governor, toured the stricken town on Friday . "Now is the time for recovery and to ask the appropriate questions," he said.

Tommy Muska, the West mayor, said most of the dead were emergency personnel who had been responding to an earlier fire at the plant. Five were members of the West volunteer fire department.

Sergeant Jason Reyes of the Texas public safety department, which co-ordinated the rescue effort, said all the bodies were taken to the Dallas forensic laboratory for identification.

"It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm 12 individuals have been recovered from the fertiliser plant explosion. We know these bodies were in the area of the explosion," he said. He later updated the number of deaths to 14.

He said 50 homes were destroyed, along with three fire engines and an ambulance.

Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), assisted by the US Chemical Safety Board, have started an inquiry, which could take six months.

Investigators will focus on which chemicals were stored by the company, which was licensed for 54,000lbs of anhydrous ammonia, a liquid nitrogen agricultural fertiliser that is stored in large reinforced steel tanks.

Officials at first suggested the explosion was caused by the anhydrous ammonia igniting, but it was revealed on Thursdaythrough Texas state records that the plant also possessed 270 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a much more volatile, dry solid, at the end of 2012. Records also suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a $2,300 (£1,500) fine for deficiencies in the plant's risk management plan in 2006.

According to data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the EPA, the last documented regulatory visit to the plant took place in late 2007, as a followup to a complaint of an odour coming from the site. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not made a site visit since 1985.

Greg Abbott, the Texas state attorney, said on Thursday it was too early to say if anybody might be held criminally negligent.

Adair's statement said his company was working closely with investigating agencies. "We are presenting all employees for interviews and will assist in the fact-finding to whatever degree possible. We pledge to do everything we can to understand what happened to ensure nothing like this ever happens again in any community," it said.