Death toll rises in Texas

Two more bodies have been recovered in the wake of the Texas fertiliser plant explosion, bring the death toll from the blast to 14.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt Jason Reyes said the bodies will be sent to the Dallas County medical examiner’s office for identification.

He earlier announced that 12 bodies had been recovered, and that search and rescue efforts were continuing.

At least three of the dead were believed to be firefighters and other members of the emergency services who rushed toward the West Fertiliser Co to fight a fire that apparently set off the blast.

The Wednesday evening explosion was strong enough to register as a small earthquake and could be heard for many miles across the Texas prairie.

It demolished nearly everything for several blocks around the plant, and more than 200 people were hurt.

Even before investigators disclosed the fatalities, the names of the dead were becoming known throughout the community of 2,800.

Townspeople gathered late yesterday for a service at St Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church.

“We don’t know what to think,” the Rev Ed Karasek told those gathered at the service.

“Our town of West will never be the same, but we will persevere.”

The only fatality who has been identified was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West.

He was off-duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas.

Firefighter Darryl Hall, from Thorndale, about 50 miles from West, was one of the rescue workers helping with the house-to-house search.

“People’s lives are devastated here. It’s hard to imagine,” he said.

Federal investigators and the state fire marshal’s office planned to begin inspecting the blast site last night to collect evidence that may point to a cause.

Franceska Perot, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said investigators would begin at the perimeter of the explosion and work inward toward the destroyed fertiliser company.

As they move inward, residents will gradually be allowed to return to their homes.

It was clear was that the town’s landscape would never be the same. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze and a nursing home left in ruins.