Oil refinery blast kills 14 workers

ALL but one of the 1,800 or so oil refinery workers have been accounted for after overnight search efforts, following the thunderous blast at BP’s 1,200-acre plant near Houston which killed 14 and injured more than 100 others, officials said yesterday.

“We think we found all the people,” refinery manager Don Parus said.

The blast on Wednesday shot flames high into the sky, forced schoolchildren to cower under their desks and showered plant grounds with ash and chunks of charred metal. Windows rattled more than five miles away.

Parus yesterday confirmed the death toll at 14, but said further details would come from the medical examiner’s office.