McEWEN, Tenn. — Workers who were inside a Tennessee explosives manufacturing plant at the time of a “devastating blast” on Friday are presumed to be dead, authorities announced on Saturday.
The explosion occurred Friday morning at Accurate Energetic Systems in McEwen, located about 50 miles west of Nashville.
During a press conference on Saturday, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said officials have not recovered any survivors and the search has now transitioned into a recovery effort.
“It’s a great loss to our communities,” Davis said while holding back tears, adding, “At this time, I would say we are dealing with remains.”
Davis said officials are now in the process of identifying the remains.
“As we get into this, we find it more devastating than we thought initially,” he said.
Officials said Saturday evening that 16 people are now assumed dead as a result of the explosion.
Previously, officials stated that 18 people were unaccounted for after the blast, according to a statement from the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency. Officials determined Saturday that two workers were not on site at the time of the explosion.
“It’s probably been one of the most devastating situations that I’ve been on in my career,” Davis told reporters Friday.
“I always wish for the best. Is there a possibility that somebody might be injured somewhere, or somebody that we don’t know about? Yes,” he later said regarding the missing individuals.
Four to five people were brought to hospitals, according to the sheriff, who did not detail their injuries.
Asked to describe the building where the explosion occurred, Davis said, “There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone.”
The sheriff said during an earlier briefing that this is a “very big investigation.”
“This is not going to be something that we’re going to be like a car wreck or something like that, that we’re just going to clean up the debris and leave. We’re going to probably be here for a few days,” he said.
“We’re trying to take as much time as is needed right now. We’re prioritizing people that are involved, their families and trying to be very compassionate toward them,” he continued.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation were among the agencies that responded to the scene.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
Accurate Energetic Systems manufactures explosives and energetic devices for the military, aerospace, demolition and mining industries, according to its website.
Its customers include the Defense Department and Homeland Security, according to the Association of the United States Army.
Video from a Nest camera at a home in Lobelville, about 11 miles from the plant, captured shaking as an explosion can be heard.
A McEwen resident who lives several miles from the plant said she felt her whole house shake.
“It felt like our house had some kind of explosion,” Lauren Roark told ABC News. “I jumped out of bed, asked my husband, ‘What was that?'”
Roark found what she believes to be debris from the explosion in her yard — “big chunks of insulation-looking stuff” — which she reported to authorities.
Kadi Arnold, who also lives in McEwan, told ABC News she would sometimes hear explosions from the plant, which is about 4 miles from her home, but “knew this one wasn’t normal.”
“The explosion was so loud and shook my home, I literally thought the back of my house had exploded,” she said.
“Once I realized it wasn’t my home, I immediately knew something terrible had happened at AES,” she said, adding the community is in “shock.”
“We’re a pretty tight-knit community and we’re all just devastated and heartbroken,” she said.
