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Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis waxes emotional as he speaks to media following a large, deadly explosion at an Accurate Energetic Systems bomb factory in Bucksnort, Tennessee on October 10, 2025.
(Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
19 Workers Missing and Feared Dead After Massive Blast Rocks Tennessee Bomb Factory
It was the third explosion or fire to occur at an Accurate Energetic Systems facility since 2014.
Oct 10, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates.
Nineteen people are missing and feared dead after a massive blast tore through a military explosives manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee on Friday morning.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters that a "very devastating blast" rocked the Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) facility in Bucksnort, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, at approximately 7:45 am local time. Davis said the explosion—which rattled homes miles away—destroyed an entire building, and that multiple people died in the blast.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” local resident Gentry Stover told The Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant left multiple people dead and missing on Friday, authorities said, as secondary blasts forced rescuers to keep their distance from the burning field of debris. pic.twitter.com/5osymmczYx
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2025
Hickman County advanced emergency medical technician David Stewart told the AP that emergency responders could not yet go into the building due to continuing secondary explosions.
One AES worker told The Tennessean that the blast occurred in the melt pour building, which the employee said usually has less than 30 people inside during work hours.
As the newspaper reported:
The daily process of making bombs involves melting the explosives in large kettles, transferring the melted material into cannisters, packing the cannisters into boxes, stacking the boxes on palettes, and loading the palettes into trucks, the employee said.
AES makes mines for the US Army and demolition charges for the Air Force. In addition to the Department of Defense, AES clients have included the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and NASA.
This isn't the first disaster to occur at an AES facility. In 2014, an explosion at the company's McEwen, Tennessee munitions factory killed one person and injured three others, and in 2020, a fire broke out at the Bucksnort plant.
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates.
Nineteen people are missing and feared dead after a massive blast tore through a military explosives manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee on Friday morning.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters that a "very devastating blast" rocked the Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) facility in Bucksnort, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, at approximately 7:45 am local time. Davis said the explosion—which rattled homes miles away—destroyed an entire building, and that multiple people died in the blast.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” local resident Gentry Stover told The Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant left multiple people dead and missing on Friday, authorities said, as secondary blasts forced rescuers to keep their distance from the burning field of debris. pic.twitter.com/5osymmczYx
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2025
Hickman County advanced emergency medical technician David Stewart told the AP that emergency responders could not yet go into the building due to continuing secondary explosions.
One AES worker told The Tennessean that the blast occurred in the melt pour building, which the employee said usually has less than 30 people inside during work hours.
As the newspaper reported:
The daily process of making bombs involves melting the explosives in large kettles, transferring the melted material into cannisters, packing the cannisters into boxes, stacking the boxes on palettes, and loading the palettes into trucks, the employee said.
AES makes mines for the US Army and demolition charges for the Air Force. In addition to the Department of Defense, AES clients have included the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and NASA.
This isn't the first disaster to occur at an AES facility. In 2014, an explosion at the company's McEwen, Tennessee munitions factory killed one person and injured three others, and in 2020, a fire broke out at the Bucksnort plant.
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates.
Nineteen people are missing and feared dead after a massive blast tore through a military explosives manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee on Friday morning.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters that a "very devastating blast" rocked the Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) facility in Bucksnort, about 60 miles southwest of Nashville, at approximately 7:45 am local time. Davis said the explosion—which rattled homes miles away—destroyed an entire building, and that multiple people died in the blast.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” local resident Gentry Stover told The Associated Press. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant left multiple people dead and missing on Friday, authorities said, as secondary blasts forced rescuers to keep their distance from the burning field of debris. pic.twitter.com/5osymmczYx
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2025
Hickman County advanced emergency medical technician David Stewart told the AP that emergency responders could not yet go into the building due to continuing secondary explosions.
One AES worker told The Tennessean that the blast occurred in the melt pour building, which the employee said usually has less than 30 people inside during work hours.
As the newspaper reported:
The daily process of making bombs involves melting the explosives in large kettles, transferring the melted material into cannisters, packing the cannisters into boxes, stacking the boxes on palettes, and loading the palettes into trucks, the employee said.
AES makes mines for the US Army and demolition charges for the Air Force. In addition to the Department of Defense, AES clients have included the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and NASA.
This isn't the first disaster to occur at an AES facility. In 2014, an explosion at the company's McEwen, Tennessee munitions factory killed one person and injured three others, and in 2020, a fire broke out at the Bucksnort plant.
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