This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/7234144.stm
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Deadly blast at US sugar refinery | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Officials in the US state of Georgia say at least six people have died in an explosion at a sugar refinery. | |
| "We have confirmed six dead," Georgia Fire Commissioner John Oxendine told CNN television. "We are still looking for other survivors." | |
| Dozens more people were injured, some seriously, in the blast at Imperial Sugar in a suburb of Savannah. | |
| Firefighters say the blaze is now under control, many hours after the blast on Thursday evening. | |
| It is believed to have been caused by sugar dust exploding. | |
| The explosion could be heard throughout the suburb of Port Wentworth and shook homes several kilometres (miles) away. | |
| Police said the damage at the refinery was "extensive". | |
| As many as 100 people were thought to have been working in the part of the plant where the explosion took place. | As many as 100 people were thought to have been working in the part of the plant where the explosion took place. |
| About 40 people are reported to have been taken to hospitals, some airlifted to a specialist burns centre in Augusta. Police say there were even more people with minor injuries. | |
| Half of the floor was gone - the second floor was debris, the first floor was debris Nakishya Hill,machine operator | Half of the floor was gone - the second floor was debris, the first floor was debris Nakishya Hill,machine operator |
| Mr Oxendine said other people were unaccounted for who could be in the building. | |
| Imperial Sugar chief executive 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 kind of cloud formation and then ignited. | |
| '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. |
| Day came to reveal that smoke was still rising from the devastated plant | |
| "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 some patients were being treated for "significant burns". | 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. | "We've seen people that have had burns to their hands all the way to about 80 to 90% of their body," he said. |