No survivors found after Tennessee explosives plant blast

No survivors are expected to be found after a major explosion at a Tennessee weapons plant on Friday that left 18 people missing.

Rescue crews are still clinging to hope of finding any of the missing people alive but assume the missing persons are dead, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said.

“When we look into it, we find it even more destructive than we originally thought,” he said at a news conference.

It is still unclear what caused the explosion at the plant in Bucksnorth, Tennessee, about 56 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Nashville. The company specializes in the development and production of explosives.

Video materials An image taken Friday showed fires still burning, charred cars and smoke rising from the demolished building. Officials said debris was scattered for a half-mile around where the building once stood.

Accurate Energetic Systems, which operates the plant, suspended its activities.

Sheriff Davis said Saturday that more than 300 state and local first responders have searched the site since Friday morning and have not found any survivors.

“The expectation of everyone inside this building… we can assume they are dead,” he told the media.

By Saturday morning, the rescue mission had shifted to recovery operations, said Davis, who was clearly suffocated.

The FBI is also on scene conducting rapid DNA tests to identify victims and notify their families.

“We're trying to focus as much attention as possible on taking care of their families,” Sheriff Jason Craft of neighboring Hickman County told the BBC.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is on the scene.

Was previous deadly explosion in the unit at the same location in 2014.

Residents in a town about 15 miles (25 kilometers) away could hear the explosion, Sheriff Davis said Friday.

One local woman, who lives about 20 minutes' drive from the facility, told the BBC she heard it while sitting at her daughter's dinner table.

“Suddenly we heard a loud bang. We didn't know if it was a gun or something else,” she said.

Another local resident, Lucy Garton, who has lived nearby for six years, did not hear the explosion herself but experienced the aftermath as she walked home from work on Friday.

“When I returned home, the roads were simply blocked by police. To get in you had to show proof that you lived here,” she said. “There were a lot of ambulances and fire trucks and everything else parked at the gas station.”

She said her husband knew people who worked at the facility.

“I think it will definitely impact the area,” she said. “It’s a very close-knit community and they’re all just regular people going to work every day, taking care of their families and just a real family-oriented community.”

She said the plant employed a lot of people in the area, adding: “I'm sure it will be difficult for them to return to work after such a tragedy.”