Explosion at Nebraska Biofuel Plant Kills 3, Including 2 Girls

New York Times

2 days ago

Three people, including two young girls who were waiting for a relative to finish work, died on Tuesday in an explosion at a biofuel plant in Fremont, Neb., that rocked the small city and left the plant on fire more than a day later, officials said on Wednesday.
The local authorities received calls just before noon on Tuesday saying that a plant owned by Horizon Biofuels had exploded, Joey Spellerberg, the mayor of Fremont, told reporters on Tuesday. The body of an employee was found on Wednesday, the Dodge County Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's office ordered an autopsy for the man.
The bodies of the two girls, believed to be younger than 12 and relatives of the man who was killed, still have not been found, Mr. Spellerberg said during a news briefing on Wednesday.
He declined to release the names of the three victims.
Recovery efforts were underway to find the bodies of the girls, the sheriff's office said. Workers were focusing their efforts on a building with an office area that is connected to the plant, Mr. Spellerberg said.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, though The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Mr. Spellerberg had said that the authorities believed the blast was most likely a wood dust explosion in the plant's tall elevator tower.
The girls were at the plant waiting for their relative to finish work ahead of a doctor's appointment when the explosion happened, Mr. Spellerberg said.
Fremont, which has about 27,000 residents, is about 40 miles northwest of Omaha.
Firefighters spent Tuesday and Wednesday battling the blaze, which is 'complex and hazardous' because of the plant's lack of structural stability, Carl Nielsen, the Fremont Rural Fire Department's chief, said Wednesday evening. The building is still on fire, and recovery efforts will be 'very slow,' he said.
The plant manufactures wood pellets for pet bedding and other products and has about 10 employees, Mr. Spellerberg said.
The Nebraska state fire marshal's office has been in contact with Horizon Biofuels, and there are 'conversations going on,' he said. Horizon Biofuels did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night.
Fourteen members of Nebraska Task Force One, a search and rescue group — including people with expertise in structural issues — were helping firefighters contain the blaze, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said on Wednesday.