Officials in the town fear many more casualties will be discovered after a fireball was sent into the sky after the explosion at West Fertilizer Plant, near Waco.
West is being evacuated due to the high risk of another blast.
Waco’s Hillcrest Hospital was inundated by more than 60 patients after the explosion with “blast injuries, orthopedic injuries (and) a lot of lacerations,” said hospital CEO Glenn Robinson.
As West tried to come to terms with the first blast, the effect of which was felt through the whole town as it was engulfed in smoke, another tank was found to still be in tac and is thought to be a major danger of going off.
“What we are hearing is that there is one fertilizer tank that is still intact at the plant, and there are evacuations in place to make sure everyone gets away from the area safely in case of another explosion,” said Ben Stratmann, a spokesman for Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell.
A nursing home and a school are said to be near the plant.
Convenience store worker Tommy Alford told CNN a number of volunteer firefighters were at his store when the smoke first emerged, then less than 10 minutes later he heard a huge explosion.
“It was massive; it was intense,” Alford said.
Nearby resisent Barry Murray said: “It was like a bomb went off.”
“There were emergency vehicles everywhere. It has been overwhelming,” he said.
The fearful scenes were caught on a smartphone by someone observing the fire from a distance before a thunderous explosions sent them into a panic.
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