An explosion that destroyed an explosives factory in rural Tennessee on Friday left 19 people missing and presumed dead, officials said.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said the blast at Accurate Energetic Systems, which supplies the military, was one of the worst scenes he's ever seen. He said multiple people were killed but declined to say how many, referring to the 19 missing as "souls" because officials were still speaking to family.
"There's nothing to describe. It's gone," Davis said of the plant.
The blast occurred about 7:45 a.m., Davis said, with aerial footage by WTVF-TV showing the smoldering hilltop facility and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.
People reported hearing and feeling the explosion from miles away. The company's website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville.
