Tragedy in Texas: Fertilizer Plant Explosion

More details are being released regarding the tragic explosion in Texas following the explosion of a fertilizer plant near Waco. Authorities are now revealing that as many as 45 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. Several media reports have said that authorities told them “with heavy hearts” that the bodies of 12 people were pulled from the area of the plant explosion. It was not confirmed if the people were first responders who would have likely been part of the volunteer fire department in the community. The blast was so great that it leveled blocks surrounding it. The Los Angeles Times reported that, according to documents filed with the state, West Fertilize Co. was storing some 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical compound, at the facility along with 100,000 pounds of liquid ammonia, although it’s not known how much might have been there earlier this week. “Pentagon explosives experts say that a detonation involving 270 tons of ammonium nitrate would be larger than almost any non-nuclear weapon possessed by the U.S.,” according to LA Times investigative reporter Bill Dedman. To read the entire story in the LA Times, visit here. Dramatic cell phone video of a blaze at the West Fertilizer Co. plant captured by a family that aired on Fox News shows a subsequent blast that threw them from their seats in the car and a young boy begging his father to leave the area and that he was unable to hear anything. To view that video, visit here. The tragedy will likely affect everyone in the small, close-knit town of West of just 2,800 people. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told the media at a press conference that “the devastation is immense.”