16 people killed in blast at Tennessee explosives plant, officials confirm

By RICK ROJAS, EMILY COCHRANE and CHRIS HIPPENSTEEL

After a desperate but fruitless search for survivors, officials in Middle Tennessee confirmed Saturday that an explosion at an ammunition plant killed 16 people.

The announcement Saturday evening was the first time that authorities provided a death toll after the blast ripped through the plant the previous day. Earlier on Saturday, they said that hope had all but vanished after no survivors were found in the search.

And by Saturday evening, Sheriff Chris Davis of Humphreys County, Tennessee, said the doubt was gone. The families of 16 people had been notified their loved ones had been killed.

It breaks my heart to tell you that,” he said in a news conference, “but I think that can be said.”

Officials had initially said that 19 people were missing, but three people believed to be at the facility turned out to be alive and safe elsewhere. In some of those cases, investigators had found personal items belonging to an individual in the rubble but could not immediately locate the person.

The investigation was focused on determining the cause of the explosion, which remained unclear Saturday. Officials described a painstaking search at the site. “We’re having to clear it foot by foot,” Davis said. Investigators were also collecting evidence spread farther afield, with debris from the blast found as far as 2 miles away.

An emergency medical helicopter and an ambulance were standing by, an indication of the danger posed to the few hundred law enforcement officers who were combing through what was left after the explosion, officials said.

The highly volatile materials at the site had become even more unpredictable after becoming exposed to heat and pressure during the explosion, officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Saturday.

“We were already going slow, and we’re slowing things down even more,” Jason Craft, the sheriff of Hickman County, said at a news conference. (The plant straddles both Hickman and Humphreys counties.)

The explosion, which leveled one of the roughly half-dozen buildings in the complex, occurred around 7:45 a.m. Central time at the plant about 60 miles west of Nashville. Residents over a dozen miles away said the blast felt like it had happened just outside their homes. The immediate aftermath was a fiery stretch of mangled metal and debris and the singed remains of vehicles that had been parked outside.

The plant is operated by Accurate Energetic Systems, a company that produces explosives and demolition charges for the U.S. military and the domestic blasting industry.

The workers in the part of the facility where the blast happened handled the explosives Pentolite and Comp-B, employees said in interviews. They would melt them down in large kettles before pouring them into cast boosters, a type of small but sensitive explosive charge that can set off larger explosives often used in commercial mining.

The explosion took place around the change between the first and third shifts, said one of the workers, Christopher Jose. The plant had extensive safety protocols for workers, employees said, including strict clothing requirements to mitigate the risks of static electricity.

In addition to grappling with questions about what set off the blast, the tightly knit community was beginning to face the grief over losing relatives, friends and colleagues.

“You want me to be honest? It’s hell,” said Davis, who, in recurring news conferences, has emerged as the primary spokesperson of both the official investigation and the anguished and bewildered community.

“It’s hell on us,” he said in an update Friday. “It’s hell on everybody involved.”

He had personal ties to some people who had been directly affected, he said. “There’s three families in this I’m very close to.”

But he added that his circumstances would hardly be unique, given the small population of the area and the widespread connections that many residents have to the plant. “We know each other,” he said.

The area, a hilly and heavily wooded patch of rural Middle Tennessee, had experienced tragedy before. In 2021, flash floods transformed creek beds, roadways and neighborhoods into a rushing river in an instant, pulling apart loved ones clutched in each other’s arms and sweeping away screaming neighbors. The floods killed 20 people and destroyed homes, businesses and churches.

This weekend, once again, a disaster stirred confusion and an agonizing wait for clarity about the extent of the toll.

“We had the flood, and now, we have this,” said Jacob Pointer, 21, working at a smoke shop in Waverly, the seat of Humphreys County and one of the towns worst hit by the flood.

Like many others, he had a connection to the ammunition plant, which is near Bucksnort, Tennessee, a blip of unincorporated territory, and the small town of McEwen. The husband of one of his co-workers is employed there. Friday was his day off.

Many knew the work involving explosives could be dangerous, Pointer said. One man was killed and four others were injured in 2014 in an explosion at the same site in an area operated by a different company. Officials said multiple companies have operated there.

But Accurate Energetic Systems was a significant employer in the area. “They keep a lot of families fed around here,” Pointer said.

In a brief statement posted on the company’s website, Accurate Energetic Systems acknowledged the “tragic accident” and the ongoing investigation. “We extend our gratitude to all first-responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions,” the company said.

Officials said Saturday that the company was cooperating with the investigation.