McEWEN, Tenn. (AP) — The blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around left no survivors, authorities said Saturday.

The total number of dead was unclear, as was the cause of the Friday blast. By the weekend, the devastation came into focus, with officials saying they had found no survivors. A total of 16 people were missing, officials said.

“There’s a gauntlet of emotions there,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a news conference, pausing to clear his throat before he asked for prayers for the families of the victims in a shaky voice.

“We’ve recovered no survivors,” he added.

    • dan1101@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      MAGA in action? DuPont used to have a brutally practical way to deal with pesky explosions in it’s black powder factories:

      The mill buildings used in the manufacture of gunpowder were built with strong stone-walled structures on three sides but were only covered by light wood structures on the fourth side, which faced out onto the Brandywine Creek. When an accident occurred, the explosion was directed away from the other mills and storage areas and over the creek.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleutherian_Mills

      The opposite of progressive is regressive.

    • snooggums@piefed.world
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      20 hours ago

      100%

      I can’t imagine safety regulations wouldn’t have included separation of large amounts of explosives by distance or with some kind of materials to avoid such a catastrophic explosion.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        So, they do. Unfortunately, there aren’t realistic safety precautions that can be taken that don’t have some risk of catastrophic failure if you’re dealing with the manufacturing and storage of explosives. Even small quantities are destructive enough to be dangerous to store.
        Ultimately safe storage comes down to human operational concerns. Missing or unenforced regulations relating to working hours, training, training compliance, or handling safety concerns would be my guess rather than storage conditions.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      It’s good for business to make sure nothing stands in the way of success. That’s why safety and humanity are nowhere to be found.