Two workers missing after fatal blast at US corn mill

Recovery crews are searching debris for two workers following an explosion at a corn mill plant that killed at least one employee and injured about a dozen others in southern Wisconsin.

Sixteen employees were working when the blast was reported at the Didion Milling Plant in Cambria, a small community about 45 miles north-east of Madison.

The plant processes corn for ethanol and other uses.

Police said one person was killed and two people were still missing as of Thursday morning. There is no immediate word on what may have caused the blast.

The University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison received five people injured in the blast.

Numerous fire, police and rescue agencies from the area responded to the scene, according to Cambria Village president Glen Williams.

He noted that the plant, in a community of about 770 people, is an economic anchor for the area.

Mr Williams said: "Quite a few of the employees live in the village and surrounding area. So it's going to affect the whole area. Not just the shock of the event, but the economic hardship to the families."

He said the fire was contained by Thursday morning and there were no evacuations in the area, although schools in the Cambria-Friesland district were closed because of the incident.

According to the company's website, brothers John and Dow Didion began Didion Milling in 1972 and construction on the Cambria corn mill was completed in 1991.

Its corn products are used in brewing beer and making crisps, breakfast cereals, bathroom mouldings and steel as well as ethanol.