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Scores injured in US sugar blast Dozens injured in US sugar blast
(about 10 hours later)
Up to 100 people have been injured, more than 30 of them critically, in an explosion at a sugar refinery in the US state of Georgia, officials have said. Dozens of people have been injured, some of them critically, in an explosion at a sugar refinery in the US state of Georgia.
The blast at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, a suburb of the coastal town of Savannah, is believed to have been caused by the ignition of sugar dust. The blast at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth is believed to have been caused by the ignition of sugar dust.
Police said the damage at the refinery, where some 200 people were reportedly working at the time, was "extensive". Firefighters were still trying to dampen the flames on Friday morning, more than 12 hours after the explosion.
No deaths have been reported, but at least eight people are unaccounted for. Six people were still unaccounted for, and firefighters had still not been able to get to the scene of the blast.
Family members of the workers later gathered at a church across the street from the refinery, anxious for news about their loved ones. Police said the damage at the refinery was "extensive", and pictures taken after day broke on Friday showed parts of the factory lying in smoking piles.
The chief executive of Imperial Sugar, John Sheptor, said the explosion had occurred at around 1920 (0020 GMT) in a silo where refined sugar was stored until being packaged. As many as 100 people were thought to have been working in the part of the plant where the explosion took place.
Between 40 and 50 people were thought to have been taken to hospitals, some airlifted to a specialist burns centre in Augusta.
Half of the floor was gone - the second floor was debris, the first floor was debris Nakishya Hill,machine operator
No deaths have been reported, and authorities were checking local hospitals for the six missing people, as well as searching the nearby river. Structural damage was preventing them from getting to the worst-hit parts of the plant.
The chief executive of Imperial Sugar, John Sheptor, said the explosion had occurred at around 1920 (0020 GMT) on Thursday in a silo where refined sugar was stored until being packaged.
"As far as we know, it was a sugar dust explosion," he said."As far as we know, it was a sugar dust explosion," he said.
Sugar dust can explode if it is mixed with air in a cloud formation at a sufficient concentration and ignited by a thermal or electrical source.Sugar dust can explode if it is mixed with air in a cloud formation at a sufficient concentration and ignited by a thermal or electrical source.
'Loud boom''Loud boom'
Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who escaped from the third floor of the refinery, said the explosion had set much of the site on fire.Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who escaped from the third floor of the refinery, said the explosion had set much of the site on fire.
"All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down," she told Associated Press news agency."All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down," she told Associated Press news agency.
Half of the floor was gone - the second floor was debris, the first floor was debris Nakishya Hill,machine operator
"When I got up, I went down and found a couple of people and we climbed out of there from the third floor to the first floor. Half of the floor was gone. The second floor was debris, the first floor was debris," she said."When I got up, I went down and found a couple of people and we climbed out of there from the third floor to the first floor. Half of the floor was gone. The second floor was debris, the first floor was debris," she said.
"All I could do when I got down was take off running.""All I could do when I got down was take off running."
Dr Jay Goldstein of the Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah said between 30 to 35 patients were being treated for "significant burns" and were in a critical condition. Dr Jay Goldstein of the Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah said some patients were being treated for "significant burns".
"We've seen people that have had burns to their hands all the way to about 80 to 90% of their body," he said, adding that some had been transported by helicopter to a specialist burns unit in Atlanta. "We've seen people that have had burns to their hands all the way to about 80 to 90% of their body," he said.