A satellite image showed the devastating aftermath of the blast at a Tennessee explosives factory that police have confirmed left ‘no survivors’.

Eighteen individuals were reported missing following the explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant around 7:50 am local time on Friday. However, police confirmed in a press conference on Saturday that they were now searching for remains.

It was the second blast at the explosives factory site – about an hour southwest of Nashville, near the town of Bucksnort – in 12 years.

In April 2014, an explosion at the rural Tennessee facility killed Rodney Edwards and injured four others, WSMV reported.

That fatal incident happened in an area where shotgun ammunition was stored, the Humphreys County Sheriff said then. 

His widow Kathryn Edwards told WSMV her husband Rodney ‘worked seven days a week’ and ‘would go in any time he was called’. 

About a dozen people were inside the building, which was ‘pretty much destroyed’ in the blast, according to The Tennessean.

The explosion, which ignited two fires in an area operated by Rio Ammunition, also severely injured Joey Clark.

A satellite image showed the devastating aftermath of the blast at a Tennessee explosives factory

The Accurate Energetic Systems plant before the explosion

Clark lost his left eye and two fingers in the blast. 

He said: ‘I was walking in the door where it flamed up.

‘I stopped to go get Rodney. I was going to turn around. I thought he was behind me. 

That stop, thinking about him, probably saved my life.’

Five years earlier, the Accurate Energetic Systems plant also experienced a ‘costly and dangerous fire,’ as detailed in court documents reviewed by The Tennessean.

James Creech, who worked in the maintenance department and oversaw quality control tests on the boilers at the company’s McEwen site, filed a lawsuit after being dismissed as a result of the fires.

The company claimed Creech’s ‘failure to perform his job duties in a responsible manner contributed to a costly and dangerous fire at AES’s facility’ on October 30, 2020.

The explosion happened around at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant around 7.50am local time Friday

The blast took place about an hour southwest of Nashville, near the town of Bucksnort

Creech’s attorneys said he ‘was never interviewed regarding the fire, his actions or the deficiencies of the building and/or building materials that were the precipitating cause of the fire.’

The lawsuit was settled after mediation.

One year earlier, the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the plant after two employees suffered ‘seizure events’ prior to their shifts for the day, and a third employee had also seized at home that same morning. 

The inspection found that five employees experienced ‘central nervous system impairment’ and had been potentially exposed to the toxic chemical cyclonite.

Accurate Energetic Systems contested the ‘serious’ violations found and settled a lawsuit with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. 

Humphreys County sheriff Chris Davis said during a press conference on Saturday that there were ‘no survivors’ from Friday’s explosion.

Davis said: ‘We can probably make the assumption – and I’m not even going to use the word assumption – I think that we can – well, I have to use that word, forgive me – we can assume that they are deceased.’

The Humphreys County sheriff said it ‘might be days or weeks or months’ before an investigation is concluded

Humphreys County sheriff Chris Davis said during a press conference on Saturday that there were ‘no survivors’ recovered from Friday’s explosion (File photo of a Tennessee state trooper)

Davis added that the scene of the blast was ‘more volatile as time has gone.’ 

He said: ‘As we get into this, we find it even more devastating than what we thought initially.’ 

The Humphreys County sheriff did not rule out foul play and said it ‘might be days or weeks or months’ before an investigation into the origin of the explosion was concluded.

The bomb factory site, which is made up of eight buildings, takes up 1,300 acres in Bucksnort. 

Public records obtained by the Associated Press showed that Accurate Energetic Systems sold multiple types of weapons to the US military, including dynamite and landmines.

The company uses its ‘state-of-the-art’ rural Tennessee campus to test explosives, according to its website.

A message on Accurate Energetic Systems’s website addressed Friday’s blast: ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, coworkers, and community members affected by this incident. We extend our gratitude to all first responders who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions.’