Explosion kills 19 at military munitions plant in Tennessee

19 people have died in a massive explosion at a military munitions plant in Tennessee. The explosion occurred this morning at Accurate Energetic Systems near the town of Bucksnort. It’s about 60 miles southwest of Nashville on the border between Hickman and Humphreys counties.

The Humphreys County Sheriffs office said it was looking for “19 souls,” but there is little doubt that all 19 are dead.

“This is probably one of the most devastating situations that I’ve been on in my career,” said Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis.

He said that there is no clear indication of what triggered the explosion. He would not answer whether he believed the blast was intentional or the result of an accident. It could be several days before the cause of the explosion is known, given the messy scene left by the blast, Davis added.

Workplace explosions and accidents have become much less common in recent years. As Human Progress explains, “in the United States around 61 workers per 100,000 employees died annually in work-related accidents during the early 20th century. In 2020, the most recent year for which there is data, that figure was 3.4 fatalities — a 94 percent reduction.”

“A similarly encouraging trend applies globally. According to the WSH Institute estimates, 16.4 workers per 100,000 employees died worldwide in 1998. By 2014 that number fell to 11.3. That’s a 31 percent reduction over a remarkably short period of 16 years. Put differently, workplace fatalities seem to be falling by almost 2 percentage points each year,” Human Progress adds.

“Few are familiar with the tragic origins of Father’s Day. Father’s Day was inspired by both a lethal workplace catastrophe and by a single father who raised six children after his wife’s untimely death,” says Chelsea Follett. “In 1907, an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine resulted in the deaths of 361 men, 250 of whom were fathers. It was the deadliest mining disaster in U.S. history, and 1,000 children lost their fathers in the accident. To honor the lost miners, a local woman named Grace Golden Clayton arranged a “Father’s Day” tribute the following year on July 5th.”