Tennessee blast wipes out military explosives plant; several dead, missing

At least 19 people were missing after a huge blast at an explosives factory in the US state of Tennessee, a local official said Friday, with the incident causing an unspecified number of "fatalities."

"At this time, we have been able to confirm that we do have 19 souls that we´re looking for," said Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis at a press conference. "I can tell you that we've had, there are fatalities. I don't want to put a number to that... I can tell you right now, we are looking for 19 individuals."

The explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Nashville, occurred at 7:45am local time (1245 GMT), Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a press conference.

Davis said there were multiple fatalities, but it was still too early to know precisely how many people had perished, saying it was still possible there were some survivors.

When asked to describe the building where the blast occurred, Davis said, "There's nothing to describe. It's gone."

Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene working to determine the cause of the explosion, Davis said.

Aerial video on CNN showed what appeared to be the footprint of where a building once stood.

In an adjacent parking lot, debris and what appeared to be ashes were scattered among a few parked vehicles.

Efforts to contact the company were unsuccessful.

Accurate Energetic Systems develops, manufactures and stores explosives for "military, aerospace, and commercial demolition markets," according to the company's website.

The 1,300-acre headquarters in Bucksnort, Tennessee, includes eight production buildings and a quality lab.

Hickman County Mayor Jim Bates told CNN that the plant did not have a history of safety problems, although a small ammunition explosion occurred there in 2014.

That incident killed one person and injured three, according to The Tennessean newspaper.