'It's gone': 18 feared dead as huge blast turns US factory to rubble

Eighteen people are missing - feared dead - after a massive explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said there were fatalities but couldn't give an exact number, saying it was still possible some employees may have survived.

Describing the building where the blast occurred - owned by Accurate Energetic Systems, a company that makes and tests explosives - he replied, "There's nothing to describe. It's gone."

The cause of Friday morning's blast, which occurred about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, was not immediately known.

Video showed flames and smoke billowing from a field of debris flung over at least a half-mile area. Emergency crews said they were initially unable to enter the site because of ongoing explosions.

The building was eight storeys high and one of several at the company's sprawling site in the Bucksnort area.

People more than 15 miles (24 km) away reported feeling the explosion, said Sheriff Davis.

Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive away, said they felt their homes shake and some captured the boom on their home cameras.

Gentry Stover, who was woken by the blast, said: "I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it.

"I live very close to Accurate and I realised about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that."

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According to its website, the firm makes products for the defence, aerospace, demolition, and oil and gas industries.

Its contracts with the US Army and navy include supplying bulk explosives to landmines and small breaching charges, according to public records.

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