A blast at the West Fertilizer Plant, Texas, has left at least 15 dead, and 160+ injured. The blast was likened to a nuclear bomb exploding and has flattened up to 75 homes.
The plant was around 20 miles north of Waco, and the blast was felt in Dallas 65 miles away. The Mayor of West said, “We’ve got a lot of people who are hurt, and there’s a lot of people, I’m sure, who aren’t gonna be here tomorrow. We’re going to search for everybody. We’re going to make sure everybody’s accounted for. That’s the most important thing right now.”
Firefighters responded quickly to the blast, however, reports say there are now four firefighters missing in the wreckage.
The chemicals used to make fertilizers are also used in explosives, and has been responsible for disasters in the past, like the AZF plant in Toulouse in 2001.
The blast comes two days before the 20th anniversary of the Waco fire in 1993, where David Koresh and his sect were holed up in a siege with the FBI. About 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco.