The Deseret Morning News
PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — An explosion at a sugar refinery that killed nine people was caused by a cloud of sugar dust that ignited beneath the plant’s silos, investigators said Friday.
Crews recovered the body of the last worker reported missing from a debris-littered breakroom late Thursday, bringing the death toll to nine, Port Wentworth Fire Chief Greg Long said. Eight workers died in the blast and another died of burns at a hospital.
Investigators traced the Feb. 7 explosion to a basement area beneath the Imperial Sugar plant’s storage silos where refined sugar was loaded onto conveyor belts and transported to the packaging area.
The area was equipped with large fans to suck dust particles out of the air, but investigators still found enough sugar dust there to fuel the blast, said Phil Durham of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He said investigators don’t know whether the fans were working and were trying to determine what ignited the dust.
Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine, the state’s top fire official, said the dust could have been ignited by static electricity, equipment or anything that makes a spark.