Explosion

WEST, Texas -- Officials confirmed Thursday that 11 first responders were among the dead in a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant that injured at least 160 and devastated a section of this small town. State public safety officials have declined to specify how many people were killed in the explosion. Tom Muska, mayor of West, said early in the day that he feared the death toll could be as high as 35 to 40, “because they are unaccounted for and still missing.” Later in the evening Muska revised his estimate to about 14 after crews had searched 80% of the damaged homes and 75% of the apartments.  "It's still hard to tell.

An explosion at a munitions depot at a Revolutionary Guard base in southwestern Iran on Tuesday killed at least 12 people, an Iranian news report said. The news website mashreghnews.ir, which is close to the Iranian government, reported that at least 20 people were injured in the explosion. The report cited no sources, and Iranian officials did not disclose the ranks of those killed or the exact casualty figures, which they said would be released Wednesday. Iranian officials told official and semiofficial news organizations that the explosion was an accident caused by a fire at the Imam Ali training base outside the town of Khorramabad that reached a weapons storage facility.

As a former bull-rider, William “Buck” Uptmor didn't get spooked by much. So when the fire began at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas, he jumped into his truck and rushed to the scene to assist volunteer firefighters. When his 17-year-old cousin, Reagan Uptmore, heard the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant - a blast so powerful it registered as a magnitude  2.1 earthquake - his first thought was Buck: “I called him … and he didn't answer,” Uptmore said. The family began a frantic search, but Uptmor is still missing and believed to be among the dead in the town of 2,800 in central Texas.

An explosion at a Bayer plant in Institute shook the area for 10 miles and sent at least one worker to the hospital with third-degree burns. Kanawha County Manger Brent Pauley says the explosion happened around 10:50 p.m. at the Bayer CropScience plant, in an area that makes pesticides. Authorities urged residents nearby to stay in their homes as a precaution.

An anti-government sympathizer of the Montana Freemen's standoff last year was injured Sunday and his rented home heavily damaged in an explosion felt more than a mile away. William Goehler, 34, underwent surgery at Rideout Memorial Hospital and was listed in fair condition Sunday night. Goehler's 2-year-old child was treated for a small forehead cut and released. The blast came from explosives that were kept in a tree on the side of the home, Yuba County Undersheriff Gary Finch said.

An explosion of unknown origin caused a power failure that postponed Saturday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Whittier between Whittier College and the University of Redlands. The game will be played today at 1:30 at Whittier. Electrical equipment that control the stadium's power exploded at 4:10 p.m. Attempts to move the game to Redlands or to a high school stadium failed, resulting in the postponement.

A gas accumulation probably caused the blast that killed 11 people and injured more than 100 in a Manila shopping mall, Philippine police officials said. Investigators set aside the possibility that a terrorist attack sparked Friday's blast after finding no bomb parts, residue or crater. Officials earlier had suspected explosives.

A bomb left outside a Nicosia travel agent's office exploded Thursday night as police prepared to approach it, but the blast caused no damage or casualties, a bomb disposal expert said. No one claimed responsibility for planting the device.

David Roberti, president pro tem of the state Senate, held a news conference with Mayor Tom Bradley across the street from a shattered Fairfax shopping district store on Friday to announce introduction of legislation aimed at avoiding future methane gas explosions. Under Roberti's proposal, the state oil and gas division would be required to pinpoint all abandoned oil and gas wells in Los Angeles and develop a strategy for extracting accumulated gas to prevent dangerous buildups.

Agustin Gurza should be commended for writing about the bogus event that was the Latin music "explosion" ( "1999 was the Year ...," Aug. 15). Ricky Martin and Shakira may have been media darlings, but their life on the pop charts was based on just that, pop, and less on being Latin. They did, however, expose a greater number of people to things Latin. Enough people were intrigued, opened the door, and saw that there was more interesting Latin music than what was being pushed by the likes of Sony.