Texas: Fertilizer plant blast injures hundreds
| WEST, Texas
Hundreds of people were likely injured in a fiery explosion on Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant near聽Waco, Texas, that damaged or destroyed numerous buildings including a nursing home, authorities said.
The blast was reported at about 8 p.m. CDT (0100 GMT on Thursday) in West, a town of some 2,700 people about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of聽Dallas聽and 20 miles (32 km) north of聽Waco.
A spokesman for the Texas聽Department of Public Safety, D.L. Wilson, told Reuters the blast had probably caused "hundreds of casualties" and damaged many homes.
He added that a nearby nursing home collapsed from the explosion and that people were believed trapped inside.
A Reuters reporter observed that a middle school and several homes in the area appeared to have been severely burned.
More than 100 people injured in the blast and fire were being taken to聽Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center聽in聽Waco, said vice president of hospital operations聽David Argueta.
Hillcrest CEO聽Glenn Robinson听迟辞濒诲 CNN that the hospital was seeing "everything from orthopedic injuries to patients that are experiencing serious blood loss."
骋辞惫别谤苍辞谤听Rick Perry聽issued a statement saying his office had "mobilized state resources to help local authorities" deal with the incident.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman, Tim Gaynor and David Bailey; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Xavier Briand)
