No survivors after deadly blast at Tennessee military explosives plant, sheriff says

A powerful explosion that ripped through a military explosives facility in Tennessee left no survivors, officials said.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency later confirmed the number of missing people went from 18 to 16 after authorities verified that two people previously believed to be on site were alive and not at the facility at the time of the explosion. There were no updates regarding fatalities or injuries as of Saturday afternoon.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a press conference Saturday that officials were working on the assumption that all of the people at the site were dead.

“We’re only working remains,” he said, adding that teams will enter to start conducting a rapid DNA search.

The explosion on Friday morning left multiple people dead and 18 others missing, officials said. A law enforcement source on Saturday told CBS News the number of missing may drop as they work to confirm whether some people initially believed to be among the missing were not actually in the building at the time of the blast. 

The explosion took place at Accurate Energetic Systems, a military explosives plant, around 7:45 a.m. Central time on Friday morning, Humphrey County Sheriff Chris Davis said during an afternoon news conference. The blast occurred in one of the eight buildings on the campus. Video from the scene showed damaged vehicles and charred debris scattered around the area.

Earlier officials said 19 people were missing, but revised the number on Saturday, saying a person who was initially believed to be on site was located safely at home. Another person was also later found to not have been there at the time of the explosion.

CBS affiliate WTVF-TV in Nashville broadcast video of debris strewn about the site, with damaged vehicles in a parking lot.   

“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Davis said. “This is probably one of the most devastating scenes that I’ve ever seen in my career.” 

When asked to describe the affected building, Davis said: “There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone.” 

The Associated Press reported that the blast rattled homes miles away. Gentry Stover, a nearby resident, told AP that it woke him up. 

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said in a phone interview. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

The cause of the explosion was not yet known, and the investigation could take days, the sheriff said. Agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were on site, Davis said. The Metro Nashville Police Department Bomb Squad also said it was responding to help process the scene. Davis said he expected crews to remain on the site for several days.

Sources close to the investigation told CBS News on Saturday morning that investigators are back assessing the site of the blast. The area “appears to be much more unstable than they thought,” which is slowing down the process, and there are some small fires still smoldering around the building, sources said. 

Davis warned there could be continued small explosions at the site. Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart told The Associated Press that emergency crews initially couldn’t enter the plant because of continuing detonations. Sources said several small “controlled” explosions will likely occur throughout the day. 

Agencies are using multiple methods to find and identify missing people; the FBI is using cell phone analysis to determine if the cell phone of someone who was reported missing was at or near the building at the time of the blast, while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will use rapid DNA testing to identify any victims that are found. 

Accurate Energetic Systems specializes in the development, manufacture, handling and storage of products and explosives for military, aerospace and commercial demolition markets, according to their website. The company also tests those explosives on the 1,300-acre campus. 

AES has been awarded numerous military contracts primarily from the U.S. Army and Navy, according to public records reviewed by The Associated Press, and produced items including bulk explosives, small breaching charges and landmines. Officials at the Pentagon told AP they were aware of the explosion and were looking into the situation. 

AES was cited and fined $7,200 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2019, online records show. There were three violations recorded. One violation described as being related to sanitation is listed as “serious.” The other two violations are categorized as “other.” 

The company is cooperating with law enforcement in relation to the explosion, Davis said.  

The facility is on the border of Hickman and Humphreys counties, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.

The state’s emergency operations center in Nashville has been activated to Level 4—Elevated to support local requests, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said. People can call a missing persons hotline at 1-800-TBI-FIND/1-800-824-3463.