West Pharmaceuticals Explosion in North Carolina

Fox News | 01.29.03 | Me

[kcvl]

Plant employees over 200 people...

[Howlin]

They have loaded some employees on school buses and are taking them somewhere.

TWO UNC helicopters and ONE Duke helicopter are still sitting on the ground.

The fire/explosion was in the warehouse.

Channel 17 saying 11 injures, 5 seriously.

Smoke is not so black, and they have begun to fight it from the ground.

[Carolina]

They should be there a LONG time ago.

UNC choppers are still on stand by.

[Peach]

Good point re why patients haven't reached hospitals yet.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No, your comments were purely speculative and overhyped. If what you proposed were true, it were be stupid for the terrorists to chose this site, when there are numerous similar petro-chemical targets in a dozen states closer to residential areas with 100 times the population.

[mhking]

Post #121 wasn't mine, but I suspect it was the first one to mention the "T" word theory.

#121 gave a specific death toll, and put forth some specific details as "facts" that aren't even remotely close to being known at this stage. If those details do bear out, I'd have to ask the poster where he/she got his/her information and why they chose to reveal such here (when it's obvious that it wasn't out in any other media yet).

[FourPeas]

Fox News reporting fire finally cooled down enough so firefighters can get into plant.

[Peach]

You mentioned an attack and a particular number of dead. Care of elaborate where you got your info?

[WestCoastGal]

Unusual for AOL poll but the President has great numbers. Sorry for posting on wrong forum but thought more would see it here and in response to your comments re: CNN.


How would you describe the speech?

55% · Convincing 429,961
23% · Dramatic but not persuasive 182,147
15% · Full of bad ideas 113,811
7% · Boring 52,979
Total votes: 778,898

Is President Bush leading the country in the right direction?

60% · Yes 469,233
40% · No 309,258
Total votes: 778,491

What should be President Bush's top priority?

52% · Economy 407,058
27% · Iraq conflict 215,088
18% · War on terror 142,537
2% · Medicare 18,784
Total votes: 783,467

NOTE: Poll results are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those users who chose to participate.

[freedom4ever]

I wish we could be a little more professional than that. No offense to anyone, but I guess someone always wants to be the one to say, "I knew it first."

[Howlin]

All the local channels are covering this now; the reporters all comment on how unhurried everybody seems.

Channel 11 saying that the city is saying that they don't "about" fatalities. (he hasn't had a report in 45 minutes.)

[DoughtyOne]

It wasn't just that he provided the information, it was how.

His post started off something close to this, "Terrorists couldn't have planned it better..." He was also claiming the smoke was toxic and basicly people should run for their lives.

The whole thing wreaked of promoting the devistation and claiming terrorist causes. It specificly mentioned 35 deaths. Fox still says no known fatalities. I'm sure they have better sources than this guy.

[tractorman]

The Brazilians are good people, it's too bad their government sucks.
(Be sure to get to the Bar-B-Q and have a couple chiparhina's (sp) for me)

[CFW]

KINSTON, N.C. — A massive explosion destroyed a pharmaceutical plant here Wednesday afternoon, injuring at least 11 people and possibly trapping others in the burning wreckage. At least five of the injured were in critical condition.


A monstrous cloud of black smoke continued to billow into the sky two and a half hours after the blast, as a huge blaze burned out of control at the West Pharmaceutical plant. The smoke could be seen from 30 miles away.

The plant produces metal and plastic products, and there were concerns that the smoke could contain toxic substances.

No fatalities were immediately confirmed, but city manager Ralph Clark said some workers were believed to be still in the West Pharmaceuticals plant almost two hours after the 1:27 p.m. EST explosion.

"We're trying to get them out," he said. He had few details.

The cause was not immediately known. A man who lives near the plant said debris flew in the air and the woods behind the plant were also on fire.

Eleven patients were taken to Lenoir Memorial Hospital in Kinston; five were in critical condition. More were expected, a spokeswoman said.

Duke Medical Center in Durham, the University of North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill and Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville were told to expect patients.

Lee Edwards, who lives about a tenth of a mile from the plant, said debris from two 800-feet water towers flew in the air.

"All I can see is just the black smoke, just billowing up in the air. I mean, the whole sky is black," he said. "It exploded. It knocked me over."

"That whole building is gone. There's no saving any part of that building," he said.

Television aerial footage of showed flames and smoke still shooting up more than two hours after the fire broke out.

Jack Lambert, who works at Seagrave Aviation nearby, said he ran toward the plant to help people get out and saw about a dozen people with burns on their arms and backs.

"It smells like a bunch of rubber," Lambert said. "It blew the roof off a good 400 feet down the road. It caught all the woods on fire."

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. is a manufacturer of pharmaceutical delivery and medical devices. The company's Web site said its Kinston plant employs about 225 people producing syringe plungers and IV supplies.

A spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Lionville, Pa., had no immediate comment.

Students were evacuated from the Arendell Parrott Academy, less than half a mile from the plant, because of the danger.

Academy Headmaster Ike Southerland said the explosion sounded like "a clap of thunder magnified probably 10 times."

"It shook every one of our buildings and damaged probably 10 classrooms," Southerland said.

Kinston is a city of about 25,000 in east-central North Carolina, about 70 miles east of Raleigh.

[mhking]

All the local channels are covering this now; the reporters all comment on how unhurried everybody seems.

That's not a good sign. There's something we aren't being told yet.

[Mo1]

Well it's understandable for some to think it could be terrorist but to put information out the is not acurate and over the edge is not needed

[kcvl]

No fatalities as of yet according to Neil Cavuto.

Not many helicopters have left still standing around to help. Approximately 150 people working at the time. Only about 35 or 40 outside. A body bag has been taken out of the building said Mr. Seagraves?...

[Howlin]

Someone on Fox now saying he has seen a body bag brought out. And that they are loading another one. He said that they are moving the ambulances around to the back area, near a tent.

[concerned about politics]

So far, explosion started in the warehouse, and employees saying the explosion was sudden.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. Free speach is one thing, but these people are just plain subversive.

[FourPeas]

Cavuto just talking to a man who claims to have seen at least one body bag.