Deadly blast at US sugar refinery

[[R_H]]

BBC

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.

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. 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.

Sugar dust can explode if it is mixed with air in a kind of cloud formation and then ignited.

'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.

"All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down," she told Associated Press news agency. "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."

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.

[Broomstick]

There are a number of agricultural dusts, not just sugar, that can form explosive combinations with air. Hay dust, for example, or dust from various grains, or lint from fibers being converted to fabric. The dust gets suspended in the air at a dense level, and if a spark ignites it you get a hot, extensive explosion sort of like a fuel-air bomb. Decaying agricultural products can also produce alcohol, which is also flammable. Various dusts were known to be fire hazards even on the old fashioned stereotypical family farm - ramped up to industrial production the problem becomes even more of an issue.

I feel very sorry for the survivors who were burned, and the families of the deceased. This is also very bad for the town, since the factory was the major employer and no one will be working for at least some time while this is investigate and the factory repaired - unless, of course, the ultimate owners decide not to rebuild and focus on plants elsewhere.

[LadyTevar]

Coal dust, saw dust, flour, hay, it all will go BOOOOOM! in a big way if there's enough dust in the air and a suitable spark. OldTimers talk about grainsilos going up like that.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

My sympathies go out to the family of the deceased and the burn victims. Hopefully, there aren't many 3rd degree burn victims.

If anyone doesn't know how bad a sugar explosion can be, pick up a small jar of tang ( yes the orange drink), or suger if you want to be dull. Then throw a small spoonful into an open flame. It's nowhere near as throwing gas on a fire, but you still get pretty good results. I almost lost my eyebrows on a camping trip when my friend threw some tang in the fire while I was standing over it.

[Eris]

It isn't just coal or agricultural dust either, it's dust. Chemical reactivity is dependent in large part on exposed surface area. Dust shares the top of the heap with substances in solution and the like. Anything that can burn will do so at fantastic rates once you've pulverised it and made it airborne.

And burns are amongst the most horrible and painful of injuries. I hope the people involved have speedy and uncomplicated recoveries, and for that matter still have jobs after this now that the plant is damaged or destroyed.

[Kristoff]

Eris, chemical reactivity depends also on the substance. I'm pretty sure stone dust won't burn and as good as I remember it was used in coal mines to stop coal dust fire from spreading.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Anything with even the smallest chance of burning will become an explosive, or at least conflagration hazard. My workplace has that as a listed hazard for fine powdered pharmaceuticals, even if inhaling the drug has no effect. Laminar flow cupboards help in this instance.

My condolences to those involved.