''Another tragedy strikes the United States of America"
As many as 15 people are feared dead including five volunteer
firefighters after a giant explosion at a fertilizer plant inflicted
massive devastation on the town of West, Texas last night, leaving hundreds
with horrific injuries.
The blast, which was heard 50 miles away and registered as
a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, leveled homes and buildings, including a
nursing home and an apartment complex, and blanketed the area in a cloud of
toxic fumes.
The missing volunteer firefighters and a policeman were attending
a blaze at the plant at about 7.50pm local time when it suddenly exploded into
a fireball - thought to be caused by dangerous anhydrous ammonia igniting
in the heat of the fire.
Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton from Waco's police
department said at least 160 people have been treated for injuries at
hospitals, but he warned that he expects the total number of deaths and
injuries to rise when daylight breaks and emergency teams are able to conduct a
proper search.
The explosion at West Fertilizer Co. shook the ground in the small
community of 2,800 people located about 20 miles north of Waco.
The tragedy raised fears of another U.S. terror attack just days
after the Boston bombs that killed three people, and comes ahead of the 20th
anniversary of the Waco siege, but Mr Swanton said the blast was more likely to
be a terrible industrial accident.
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