Explosion rocks sugar refinery plant near Savannah

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Explosion rocks Imperial Sugar Co. facility in Port Wentworth, about seven miles outside Savannah, and near the Savannah River.

An explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth in February 2008 killed 14 people and injured dozens more. The company has agreed to pay more than $6 million in fines and penalties for violations.

Emergency personnel spent the first hour pulling people out of the building, officials said, and struggled to stop the spread of the fire.

"All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down," said machine operator Nakishya Hill, who was uninjured except for blisters on her elbow. "When I got up, I went down and found a couple of people and we climbed out of there from the third floor to the first floor. Half of the floor was gone. The second floor was debris, the first floor was debris."

More than 60 firefighters and paramedics from at least eight area departments converged on the scene, and tugboats with water cannons were brought up the Savannah River to help battle the blaze.

Law enforcement officers gather at a command post near the scene. Of the 38 seriously injured, 12 were taken to Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctor's Hospital in Augusta for treatment of severe burns. Several dozen others had minor injuries.

An unidentified woman makes a phone call near friends and family members the morning after the explosion.

"There was fire all over the building," said Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who escaped from the third floor of the refinery on the Savannah River.

The plant, known to locals as the Dixie Crystals factory, an area landmark, is in Port Wentworth, about seven miles outside Savannah, and near the Savannah River.

Eventually 14 people were dead in the explosion.

The explosion occurred shortly before 7:30 p.m. in a back room of the Imperial Sugar Co. facility.

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An explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth in February 2008 killed 14 people and injured dozens more. The company has agreed to pay more than $6 million in fines and penalties for violations.

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