Explosion at North Carolina factory kills 2 people

KINSTON, N.C. -- An explosion followed by a raging fire demolished a plastics factory Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 16. Others were feared trapped in the burning ruins, which sent black, acrid smoke billowing over the countryside.\nCity Manager Ralph Clark said an unknown number of workers were believed to be still inside the West Pharmaceutical plant.\n"We're trying to get them out," he said.\nPolice said at least 100 workers had failed to contact their families as of 3:30 p.m., two hours after the thunderous blast at the factory, which manufactured syringe plungers and IV supplies.\nThe cause of the blast was not immediately known. The plant had been cited for numerous safety violations last fall.\nThe blast was felt for miles and the building was still burning three hours later, with the columns of smoke punctuated by fireballs. Nearby trees and brush were aflame.\nEmergency officials urged residents within a mile of the plant to evacuate because of the smoke, which included fumes from burning plastic.\nLee Edwards, who lives about a tenth of a mile from the plant, said the blast sent debris from two 800-foot water towers flying through the air.\n"All I can see is just the black smoke, just billowing up in the air. I mean, the whole sky is black," he said. "That whole building is gone."\nJack Lambert, who works at Segrave Aviation nearby, ran toward the plant to help and saw about a dozen people with burns on their arms and backs. "It smells like a bunch of rubber," Lambert told CNN.\nIt was not known how many people were working inside at the time of the explosion. The company's Web site said the plant employs about 225 people in this city of 25,000 about 70 miles southeast of Raleigh. But a spokeswoman at company headquarters in Lionville, Pa., had no immediate comment.\nThe Sheriff's Department notified the medical examiner eight people had died, said Jane Martin at Pitt Memorial Hospital. At least 16 people were treated at local hospitals, and others were believed to be receiving triage at the scene.\nHugh Pollock, headmaster of nearby Arendell Parrott Academy, said windows in his building burst from their frames and one child was cut on the head by broken glass. The private school was evacuated.\n"It was quite an explosion. It lasted for several seconds," he said. "It almost felt like an earthquake was taking place."\nTrading of the company's stock was halted on the New York Stock Exchange.\nAccording to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the plant was inspected in October, cited for numerous safety violations and fined about $10,000. State labor spokesman Juan Santos said the fine was reduced to $9,075 in a settlement Jan. 8.\nAmong other things, the plant was cited for problems with its electrical systems design, wiring and use; portable fire extinguishers; hazardous waste operations; and hazardous communications.\nSince 1993, OSHA has inspected 443 facilities similar to the North Carolina plant and found an average of nearly six violations per site, compared with 15 violations at West Pharmaceutical.\nNorth Carolina is the site of one of the nation's worst workplace disasters: Twenty-four employees and a delivery man died and 56 people were injured in a 1991 fire sparked when hydraulic fluid from a conveyor belt sprayed over a gas-fired chicken fryer at Roe's Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet.