“In an instant they were gone”

In Bucksnort, Tennessee, the residents have spent a frosty autumn night in and V and V and V and B and B and B and in search of a simple message, cut into a concrete barrier on the side of the road: “Pray for AES families.”

Community members gathered on Saturday to vigil at candles outside the Baptist Church Maple Valley after a blast in local explosives factory -accurate energy systems (AES) left 16 people who are assumed to be dead.

This community of Hikman and Humphries is “not huge, so it’s a lot of people who have to lose for a moment,” said Deacon Danny Bates to approximately 40 attendees who were comforting and sang hymns as “it’s good with my soul.”

“It was just another day at work, and then there were no answer in a moment. We have unanswered questions.”

Vigil-Goer Jerri Newcombe said her friend has been among the victims for more than 20 years. The two met when Newcomb’s granddaughter and the victim’s daughter became close as little girls.

“They grew up together – we were in the homes of each other,” Newcomb told the BBC in the BBC. “We celebrated birthdays together. It’s just surreal because she left and her babies hurt,” she said, citing the victim’s children and grandchildren.

Local police have not publicly identified any of the uniform casualties that authorities suggest that everyone has been killed.

Her girlfriend was “full of life,” said G -Jen Newcombe. “She was the type of person who could make you laugh at everything, but you didn’t cross her, or she would be torn apart in you,” added D -Newcomb against the backdrop of tears and laughter, as her granddaughter comforted her.

Bucksnort is a nearby city where service is stained and a gas station decorated with a central part of the Confederation – is the local watering hole, residents say. This tragedy hit the area hard as the community mourns family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

The city has hoped for good news after the explosion on Friday morning shook homes in the area, blurring the sky with smoke, and attracted a jump of hundreds of state and national first responding to the otherwise sleeping community behind the forests on a busy highway.

But after nearly two days without signs of survivors and the site of the explosion is still considered dangerous for the first responding, even early optimistic sheriff of Humphris County Chris Davis, said the moment had come to restore rather than save a strategy.

“At some point, we have to tear off the tape,” said Davis, who holds back tears at news conferences. “We are dealing with remains.”

Hikman County sheriff Jason Kraft told the BBC on Saturday night that the rapid DNA analysis is still ongoing, but after the search of 300 first responses, the authorities have sufficient confidence in their assessment of the scene to inform the families that their relatives may have died.

There has not yet been the cause of the explosion and agents from the National Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are investigating. It may take a month as much as a month for federal investigators to reach the main object of the explosion, ATF official Bris McCcken told the BBC.

The unstable nature of explosive materials also impedes emergency response, staff said, as in the coming days, detonations are expected to make the object safety.

Tiffany Story says her cousin was also among the victims, along with four other people she knew, including someone she had ever used to watch.

“Everyone knows everyone here,” said the emotional story of G -JJ to the BBC. “Because everyone is so close, it’s very soothing to have a family. It’s us – whether (by) blood, not blood, this whole community is family.”

“There will probably never be answers” to the tragedy, she said.

Jenny Brown said she also knew victims of the place. “They were loved by their families and the community,” she said out of another prayer vigil at the Baptist Church of the Hurricane Chapel in the nearby McEwen.

“It’s just a sad, sad day,” she said.

Residents have announced to the BBC that the AEES company has occupied about 80 workers and is one of the only private well -paid jobs in these cities. For many, the plant here was known as a reliable first job for itself or close friends.

A recent job opening is advertising a salary of $ 19 per hour to work with manual work at the entrance level, more than doubling the state’s minimum wage of $ 7.25.

The factory has observed other difficulties, but none of this scale as this.

In 2014, an explosion at the company killed one person, and a workplace safety check in 2019 led to relatively insignificant financial penalties that the company was established, according to online records.

Residents who talked to the BBC had mostly positive feelings for the company, and the local police claim that there are no previous reports of dangerous working conditions.

The pastoral church of Hurricane Pastor Tim Ferris praised the reaction of his congregation to the tragedy.

“One thing about a small community is that when something like this happens, they gather around each other and they approach to be Jesus’ hands and feet, to administer to these people, to care for them, to provide them.

And that’s a wonderful thing, ”he said.