Dozens of homes and buildings have been destroyed, and several are still on fire, after the West Fertilizer plant exploded at about 19:50.

 

Some people are thought still to be trapped in buildings and a number of firefighters are reported missing.

 

Emergency services officials said ammonia（氨） may have caused the explosion.

 

It has been reported the company had 54,000lbs (20 tonnes) of anhydrous（无水的） ammonia on site.

 

Firefighters had been tackling a blaze at the plant when the explosion in West, a town of about 2,700 people some 20 miles (32km) north of Waco, occurred.

 

Police said the half the town had been evacuated¹, amid fears of possible further explosions or a leak of toxic² gas.

 

Sgt William Swanton of the Waco police department said power to the town had been shut off to prevent further accidents.

 

He confirmed there were deaths, but could not give a figure.

 

Police have been conducting house-to-house searches to check for casualties.

 

TV images showed streams of emergency vehicles descending³ on the site and ambulance crews using a nearby sports field as an emergency treatment area. The injured were being carried to hospital not just in ambulances but in police squad⁴ cars and helicopters.

 

Glenn A Robinson, chief executive of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, told CNN that his hospital had received 66 injured people including 38 who were seriously hurt. 

 

He said the hospital was seeing "everything from orthopaedic（整形外科的） injuries to patients that are experiencing serious blood loss".

 

McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said: "It's a lot of devastation⁵. I've never seen anything like this. It looks like a war zone with all the debris⁶."

 

A nursing home was caught in the explosion and some people were believed trapped inside.

 

Witness Debby Marak told the Associated Press news agency that she had seen smoke coming from the area near the plant and had driven over to see what was happening.

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