Dramatic footage of a massive explosion in the Texas town of West has shocked and amazed viewers.
The explosion happened on Wednesday, following a fire at a fertiliser plant on the outskirts of the town near Waco — famous for the 1993 siege and fire that killed 76 people.
An estimated 15 people were killed in the fire, and subsequent explosions, with at least 160 injured. Firefighters were responding to the initial incident when the explosion rocked the town — registering as an earthquake of 2.1 on the Richter scale. Several persons are still unaccounted for.
But a worse disaster was certainly avoided: A nearby nursing home began evacuations when the fire first broke out. At least 130 people had been safely evacuated by the time the explosion happened.
It’s not known at present what caused the fire, but the storage tank that exploded with such force is believed to have contained anhydrous ammonia, a fertiliser that is injected into the soil, and stored in high-pressure tanks.
Anhydrous means without water, and when the fertiliser is injected into the soil, it quickly combines with any moisture, releasing the ammonia gas. This makes it extremely dangerous, as it will dehydrate skin or eyes, causing chemical burns.
The ammonia is three parts hydrogen and one part nitrogen, and so is extremely flammable.
But speaking to the BBC World Service, chemist Professor Andrea Sella said:
Anhydrous ammonia will burn but it is unusual for it to detonate, whereas ammonium nitrate has a track record of blowing up.
What we do know is that if you formulate it in the right way, it actually forms kind of the bedrock of the mining industry — it’s a hugely used commercial explosive.
In a press conference, local sheriff D L Wilson described the scene as “massive”, and said it was just like the scene at the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, where the same kind of fertiliser was used to detonate a bomb at the city’s federal building.
The Guardian reports that the plant was fined twice for breaching safety regulations in recent years, including in 2006 for failing to have a suitable risk assessment in place, although this has since been remedied. They also reported that the plant’s emergency plan stated there was no risk of explosion, a claim that has been dramatically proven wrong.
It’s too early to say whether there could be any criminal proceedings in what is being treated as an industrial accident — although the West Fertilizer Company site is currently classified as a crime scene while the search for people continues.
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Our thoughts and prayers are with these people in Texas that have been affected by the accident. This was the first time I had seen a video of the explosion and I have to say the power that of the explosion is awe inspiring. The company may have said they were at no risk of explosion but you should never say never, murphy’s law will get you in the end.
It’s the noise that really hits you, as well. Even through low-quality phone footage you feel it through the screen. Scary stuff. Hope the remaining missing people are found OK, but seeing the video, you can’t help but fear the worst.
It’s ironic that this happened the same week as the Boston bombings. News coverage of the bombing here in the US has been nearly continuous, while coverage of the explosion has been of the “Oh, by the way” level, even though a lot more people;e were killed, lots more damage was done, and there are still more than 50 people missing.
I guess the explosion didn’t present enough drama.
I think the difference here is that we can all relate to an accident even if it is on the scale of a fertilizer plant explosion but we can’t wrap our heads around why people would intentionally kill innocent people. I do think that this explosion needs more coverage though since this is something that was avoidable and there were multiple chances to correct safety issues.
I wondered about the same. Although incidents like these should be fully investigated and the media should inform the public of developments but one cannot help but think whether the media uses these types of incidents as ready made programming.