Mass injuries reported in Texas fertilizer plant blast

A huge explosion on Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant near West, a town in central Texas, caused many injuries, according to the town's fire department and news reports. A spokesman for the Texas department of public safety, DL Wilson, said that the blast at the plant, West Fertilizer, just off Interstate 35 north of Waco, had resulted in "probably hundreds of casualties," but that he did not know if anyone had died, Reuters reported. Mr. Wilson said that a local nursing home had been caught in the blast, and that people were believed to be trapped inside.
"We've had a big explosion at a fertilizer plant," said a woman who answered the phone at the fire department in West, but who declined to identify herself, citing department rules. "There are injuries, casualties; it's terrible." James Miller, a West resident and volunteer firefighter, said people were trapped in the nursing home. "They're getting them out right now," he said. The television news station KWTX said that the explosion happened just before 8pm and that emergency crews from throughout the region were responding. The station posted images of a large explosion and a fire. A high school football field was pressed into service as a triage center, according to local reporters. The Red Cross in the Dallas and Fort Worth region said in a statement posted online that it had crews on the way to help. Red Cross workers were looking for a safe place to shelter residents who had been displaced from their homes. Images posted by The Dallas Morning News showed numerous ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles tending to groups of people huddled in blankets and on stretchers under the floodlights. Television footage showed a sea of flashing lights near the plant and extensive fires burning into the night. The cause of the fire was not immediately apparent. "We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident," Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement late Wednesday. "We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West and the first responders on the scene." The West Independent School District said on Twitter that residents were being told to leave.