An explosion and fire at a farm in Texas killed about 18,000 head of cattle and injured one worker, authorities said on Thursday.
“This was the deadliest barn fire for cattle in Texas history and the investigation and cleanup may take some time,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement.
The explosion and fire ripped through the Southfork Dairy Farms near the town of Dimmitt in the Texas Panhandle on Monday night.
Photo: AFP / Facebook page of Castro County Sheriff`s Office
Firefighters and police rushed to the scene and “determined that one person was trapped inside,” the Castro County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook, adding that the person was rescued and flown to a hospital in Lubbock.
The cause of the explosion and fire were not immediately clear, Miller said, describing it as a “horrific event.”
“Once we know the cause and the facts surrounding this tragedy, we will make sure the public is fully informed — so tragedies like this can be avoided in the future,” he said.
Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera told an CBS-affiliated TV station in Amarillo that a system to remove manure from the barns might have gotten “overheated.”
He said methane might have “ignited and then spread out with the explosion and the fire,” adding that a probe would have to determine the precise cause.
“Farms must do more to protect animals by adopting commonsense fire safety measures,” the Animal Welfare Institute, one of the oldest animal welfare charities in the US, wrote on Twitter, referring to the incident in Texas.
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