Up to 15 dead in massive Texas plant blast

IT was like Iraq, a nuclear bomb, a tornado.

Those were the words used by US officials to describe the devastation created by a blast at a fertiliser plant in Texas on Wednesday, which injured more than 160 and killed between five and 15 people.

Until the massive fireball tore through the evening air, the town of West was a typical Texas town of 2800, proud of the Czech heritage of many of its early settlers.

It was small enough for everyone to know each other, and for the high school, middle school and a nursing home to be within walking distance of the West Fertilizer Plant.

According to Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton, a spokesman for Waco police, firefighters and law enforcement responded to a fire at the plant at about 6.30 on Wednesday night (0930 AEST Thursday).

They quickly realised the severity of the threat facing them and the town, and started an evacuation process.

"Perhaps 15 minutes later a massive explosion occurred," he told the hundreds of reporters who rushed to the small town from around the country.

Swanton said early on Thursday morning the injured were being taken to hospitals in Waco and a triage centre at high school in nearby Abbott.

"It was a small fire and then water got sprayed on the ammonium nitrate, and it exploded just like the Oklahoma City bomb," Jason Shelton, a clerk at the Czech Best Western Hotel in West told the Dallas Morning News.

"I live about a thousand feet (300 metres) from it and it blew my screen door off and my back windows. There's houses levelled that were right next to it."

Hours after the blast, several firefighters and police were unaccounted for. Authorities said between five and 15 people had been killed and more than 160 hurt.

Glenn A. Robinson, the chief executive of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, told the Waco Tribune-Herald the hospital had treated more than 100 people, including 14 who would likely be admitted, but that none had died. He said the injuries included cuts, broken bones and others expected from flying debris. Thirty people were also treated at Providence Hospital in Waco, and several others were sent to the burn unit at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Two children were taken to McLane Children's Hospital in Temple, he said.

According to mayor Tommy Muska, the blast and the fire devastated houses and buildings within a five-block radius. He said 50 to 80 homes had been flattened in the blast.

Among the worst affected were a nursing home that was adjacent to the fertiliser plant, where 133 people were evacuated.

A 50-unit apartment building appeared to have taken the brunt of the blast, its facade ripped off to reveal the building's wooden frame and the pulverised interior.

D.L. Wilson, the spokesman of the Texas Department of Public Safety, was shocked by what he saw.

"It was massive just like Iraq ... there was an apartment complex that has about 50 units - it was like a skeleton standing there," he told reporters.

Numerous buildings were on fire, including the nursing home, and the middle school.

A search for survivors continued throughout the night, as emergency workers went house to house and business to business looking for people trapped in the rubble.

Residents described the chaotic moments following the blast as hundreds of emergency personnel rushed on to the roads and local residents were trying to escape.

Strong winds were hampering efforts to extinguish the fire at the plant with firefighters trying to secure a huge tank containing chemicals, CNN reported on Thursday.

The tank was still intact despite the massive blast at the plant.

Rescue officials also fear that strong wind could spread dangerous gases to nearby populated centres, the broadcaster said.

Muska said residents were bracing for news of neighbours' deaths.

"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," he told CNN.

"We're gonna search for everybody. We're gonna make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now."

But despite the reputation of West as a tight-knit small community, recriminations were also being raised.

"That whole side of town looks like a disaster," resident Bill Manolakis told the Dallas News. "Who in their right mind sticks a damn plant next to houses?"

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