The death toll in the West, Texas explosion at a fertilizer plant has reached 14 people, Mayor Tommy Muska said on Thursday.
The blast Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant here has left more than a dozen dead, and 150 injured. It destroyed a school and 75 or so homes-damaging a sizable portion of a town of 2,800 with a Czech heritage that stretches back generations.
"At some point this will turn into a recovery operation, but at this point, we are still in search and rescue," he said. In a second morning news conference, Sergeant Swanton said that the fires were still smoldering, but "there is nothing out of control over there at this point.
Agents with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are on the scene of the blast, which was the strength of magnitude 2.1 earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"Last night was truly a nightmare scenario in that community," Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Thursday, adding, "This tragedy has most likely hit every family" in West, a tiny town 20 miles north of Waco with a population of 2,800.
Texas Governor Rick Perry described the situation as "a nightmare scenario." "The tragedy has most likely hit every family," he said.
Bryan Anderson, 41, injured along with his 9-year-old son Kaden near their home, said: "This doesn't happen in West, Texas. We are just a little town."
