BBC:
Law enforcement has identified the 16 people who were killed in a blast that levelled a munitions factory in the US state of Tennessee.
The names were released during a news briefing on Monday outside Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) in Hickman County, where an early-morning blast on 10 October left no survivors.
Sheriffs Chris Davis of Humphreys County and Jason Craft of Hickman County alternated reading the victims’ names and emphasised a “need to take care” of their families in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The cause of the blast is still unclear. Agents from the national Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are investigating.
The victims are Jason Adams, Erick Anderson, Billy Baker, Adam Boatman, Christopher Clark, Mindy Clifton, James Cook, Reyna Gillahan, LaTeisha Mays, Jeremy Moore, Melinda Rainey, Melissa Stanford, Trenton Stewart, Rachel Woodall, Steven Wright and Donald Yowell.
Authorities said the individuals are presumed dead, and the release of their names does not mean their remains have been identified. That process is ongoing.
Sheriff Davis, who has described the blast as one of the most devastating incidents of his career, said that one victim was a teacher.
Another was his neighbour’s husband, he said, and a third one was one of his best friends, according to local newspaper, The Tennessean.
Authorities originally feared that 18 people had died, but two people who were thought to have been on site were later located elsewhere.
Sheriff Davis said that while he may not have known all of the victims personally, he knows their family members or extended family members.
The tragedy has hit hard in the close-knit town, where cell service is spotty and a gas station – adorned with a Confederate flag centrepiece – is the local watering hole.
