No survivors found after Tennessee explosives plant blast

No survivors are expected to be found after a major explosion at a Tennessee munitions factory Friday left 18 people missing.

Recovery teams do not expect to find the missing alive, but they are not giving up hope, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference Saturday.

“As we approach this issue, we find this even more devastating than we initially thought,” Sheriff Davis said.

It’s still unclear what caused the explosion at the Bucksnort, Tennessee, plant, about 55 miles southwest of Nashville. The facility specializes in the development, manufacturing, handling and storage of explosives.

Video footage taken Friday showed fires still burning, charred vehicles and smoke rising from the razed building. Officials said debris was scattered within a half-mile radius of where the building once stood.

Accurate Energetic Systems, which manages the plant, suspended operations.

There had already been a fatal explosion in a unit located in the same location in 2014.

Residents in a town about 15 miles away could hear the explosion, Davis said.

A local resident who lives about 20 minutes from the facility told the BBC she was sitting at her daughter’s dining table when she heard it.

“All of a sudden we heard a loud bang. We didn’t know if it was a gun or what,” she told the BBC.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is on scene to assist in investigating the incident.