Workers Missing After Blast At Slim Jim Plant

Accident Explosion 32 Transported To Hospitals Some With Severe Burns From Fire And Toxic Chemical Leak; 2 Still Missing..

by CBS/AP

Published: Tue, June 09, 2009 - 1:58 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, June 09, 2009 - 2:00 pm CST

(CBS/AP)
Thirty-two people have been taken to hospitals after an explosion at a Slim Jim meat products plant in North Carolina, officials said Tuesday. At least two people are reported missing.

Aerial footage of the ConAgra Foods plant in Garner, a Raleigh suburb, showed several holes in the roof. Parts of the front of the building had also blown outward, smashing several cars.

Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said injuries ranged from severe burns to smoke inhalation. Emergency crews were keeping people away because of concerns about the smell of ammonia.

"There is a toxic cloud on and about the plant," Williams said.

Officials said at a news conference that firefighters were still trying to contain a small fire and an ammonia leak.

Jeffrey Hammerstein, district chief with Wake County Emergency Medical Services, said after an initial wave of injured workers were transported, an additional 11 people were transported, many suffering from heat exhaustion.

WakeMed Hospital spokesperson Debbie Laughery said her hospital has so far received 17 patients, most with non-life-threatening injuries, and is expecting several more. Two with more serious injuries were transported to UNC Duke.

Williams said several people reported hearing an explosion before the building partially collapsed.

"We're still working evacuating anybody else that was still in the building and treating people that were injured," said Lt. Chris Hagwood, a spokesman for the Garner Police Department.

Chris Woods, a worker at the facility, said he started running after feeling an explosion around 11 a.m.

"I was picking up a piece of meat off the line and I felt it, the percussion in my chest," Woods said. "One of the guys I was working with got blown back, he flew backwards."

Woods said he later saw people with burns on stretchers.

An elementary and middle school are located nearby; Wake County school district officials said they were keeping students inside.

The site employs several hundred people producing Slim Jim products.

Leonard Spruill, a worker at the plant, told CBS Affiliate WRAL that he heard a loud explosion and that several of his co-workers were badly burned.

Spruill suffered burns on his head, arms and legs, and said he had to have his clothes cut off of him.

ConAgra Foods spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said the company is assessing what happened.

The 425,000-square-foot plant last was inspected by the North Carolina Department of Labor for workplace safety last July and no violations were found, said Labor Department spokeswoman Dolores Quesenberry.

WRAL reports that a handful of violations were found in 2006 and 2007 regarding a lack of eye and face protection and communications about hazardous materials.

WKRG.com » News Stream » National