SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) — A gas explosion rocked a soybean processing plant in western Iowa on Friday, injuring eight people — three critically — and sparking a fire, authorities said.Fire crews extinguished the blaze after four hours at the Ag Processing Inc. plant, about 20 miles south of Sioux City, said Woodbury County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Brown.
The injured were taken to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, where one person was in critical condition and two others were in serious condition, hospital officials said.
Two of the eight were airlifted to Nebraska Medical Center’s burn unit; both were in critical condition.
“Most of the severe injuries are related to burns and inhalation of hot material,” said Dr. Larry Sellers, chief medical officer at Mercy Medical Center.
The plant, which employs 50 people and makes soybean oil and soybean meal, was shut down for cleaning and maintenance when the explosion occurred just before 9 a.m.
Brown said the explosion involved hexane gas, a highly flammable chemical used to extract vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans.
Ag Processing in Omaha, Neb., released a statement saying there was no danger to the public. Officials with the farmer-owned cooperative were investigating the cause of the explosion and the extent of the damage, the statement said.
“It may be several days before the exact cause is known,” it said.
The company, which has about 1,600 employees, is the third-largest supplier of refined vegetable oil in the United States, said spokesman John Campbell.
AG Processing has six plants in Iowa and one each in Nebraska, Missouri and Minnesota.
Also at the Port Neal complex is a Terra Industries Inc. fertilizer plant, where a 1994 explosion killed four people, injured 18 and released a toxic cloud of ammonia.
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Related Video:
Listen to what this guy has to say about hexane, but don’t eat or drink soy products.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZOKa7CQb8g
