By John Holusha
Associated Press
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Officials were holding out little hope Friday morning that six people missing in an explosion and fire at a sugar refinery near Savannah, Georgia, would be found alive. Dozens of others remained hospitalized, many of them in critical condition with extensive burns.
Michael Berkow, the chief of the Savannah Metropolitan Police Department, said that authorities planned to meet with families of the six workers.
Officials said efforts at the plant on the Savannah River in Port Wentworth had shifted from a rescue to a recovery effort. The plant, they said, was still burning and so unstable that recovery could not begin until debris had been removed.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Lynn said the river was closed to ship traffic from the Port of Savannah while the river was searched for possible victims. None had been found. Charles Middleton, the Savannah fire chief, said the “instability of the building may hamper recovery operations, but they are anxious to get the process moving.” He said he did not want to expose rescue crews to any “more danger than absolutely necessary.”
Eighteen of the more than 40 plant workers injured in the blast and fire were airlifted to the Joseph H. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga. for treatment, said Beth Frits, a spokeswoman for the hospital. As of Friday morning, 15 were listed in critical condition and three were listed as serious, Ms. Frits said.
Some 30 to 35 additional patients were being treated locally, and burn specialists from out of town medical centers were being sent to help. Dr. Jay Goldstein, an emergency room doctor at Memorial University Medical Center said in a televised interview that most of the plant workers had “significant burns.”
Officials had not determined what caused the explosion, which happened shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday night, but said they were suspicious of sugar dust, which like grain dust, can be volatile.
“There was fire all over the building,” said Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who said she escaped from the third floor of the refinery, according to The Associated Press.
“All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down,” said Ms. Hill, who was uninjured except for blisters on her elbow. “All I could do when I got down was take off running.”
The plant is owned by Imperial Sugar and is known in Savannah as the Dixie Crystals plant. Imperial markets some of the country’s leading consumer brands, Imperial, Dixie Crystals and Holly, as well as supplying sugar and sweetener products to industrial food manufacturers.
Brenda Goodman contributed reporting from Atlanta.