Deadly Fertilizer Plant Explosion “Preventable”

Luke 21:7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to take place?” Luke 21:11 "There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and epidemics in many lands, and there will be terrifying things (that which strikes terror), and great miraculous signs in the heavens."

(Note:  This is a follow up to a story we carried on April 18, 2013 on an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas.)

The deaths of 15 people and the wounding of 226 others in an explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant was completely preventable according to the investigation into the incident.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said Tuesday that the incident “should never have occurred.”

“It resulted from the failure of a company to take the necessary steps to avert a preventable fire and explosion and from the inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard and correct it,” Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said. “The community clearly was not aware of the potential hazard at West Fertilizer.”

The board’s investigation found that the factory was storing ammonium nitrate inside a wooden building that left it very susceptible to fire.  Ammonium nitrate is a common fertilizer but is also extremely explosive.

It has been used in terrorist attacks, such as the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

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