'Graduation' for group of sugar refinery workers

Two dozen employees of the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah had a ‘graduation’ of sorts last night. The group of workers received certificates for their completion of a training program run in connection with Savannah Technical College. The workers completed 180 hours of training since June in a program to upgrade job skills. The program follows the deadly explosion at the Imperial sugar plant six months ago in Port Wentworth.

Refinery explosion victim leaves hospital in Augusta

Another victim of the sugar refinery explosion at Port Wentworth in February has been discharged from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta.

The patient, as well as four others, are receiving rehab at the hospital. Six remain hospitalized there. Three are in critical condition, while one is in serious condition and two more are in fair condition.

Thirteen people have died as a result of the explosion.

Lawsuit filed in sugar refinery blast

An employee of the sugar refinery near Savannah that exploded last month has filed a lawsuit. Raquel Islas filed the suit in state court against a company that was hired to clean dust at the refinery. Islas' attorney says Stokes Contracting is not responsible for the ignition that led to the blast, but should be liable for punitive damages because the company failed to clean and dispose-of sugar dust. The February 7th explosion at the refinery in Port Wentworth killed 13 people.

Some employees back to work at sugar plant

About 120 employees of the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth--roughly a third of the workforce--have returned to the site for work. The company’s president says the returning workers are needed to help ship over 100 truckloads of bagged sugar that were undamaged from the explosion and fire at the plant February 7th. The explosion resulted in the deaths of nine people, with dozens injured. 16 people remain in the hospital. The packaging area was destroyed in the incident. Less damaged was the refinery itself, although it remains closed. Company officials hope to finish repairs and new construction for the plant by the end of this year.

Earlier explosion determined at sugar refinery

A federal investigator on the scene of the deadly sugar refinery blast near Savannah says there was an explosion weeks before at the site. It was determined dust in a piece of safety equipment caused the earlier explosion--no people were injured in that incident. It cannot be said whether that explosion contributed to the deadly blast February 7th that killed nine people at the Port Wentworth refinery. It’s believed a build-up of sugar dust beneath the silos was the cause of the large deadly explosion.

Sugar refinery fires extinguished

The fires are out at the site of the exploded sugar refinery in Port Wentworth near Savannah. Firefighters yesterday put-out the final stubborn flames, this setting the stage for further investigation to move ahead into how the explosion happened eight days ago. Eight people are confirmed dead, including one of the burn victims who died in an Augusta hospital yesterday morning. One worker remains missing at the refinery site. 16 remain in the Augusta hospital being treated for their injuries.

Lawmakers seek answers in refinery blast

Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss are calling for a federal investigation into last week’s deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth. The blast killed eight people and injured dozens. The senators hope a “complete and thorough investigation” will shed light on causes of the tragedy and ways to improve factory safety.

Fire specialists to attack refinery blazes

Fires that have burned for six days at a Savannah-area sugar refinery will be attacked by specialized firefighting teams today.

Three fires ignited yesterday at the destroyed Imperial Sugar Company plant, due to molten sugar smoldering at temperatures as high as four-thousand degrees. Officials fear a larger blaze could break out again.

The refinery in Port Wentworth exploded Thursday night, injuring dozens. 17 people remain hospitalized at an Augusta burn center--15 critically. Six people are confirmed dead from the blast, while two workers remain missing.

18 refinery victims in Augusta expected to survive

Some hope amid the tragedy of the explosion of a sugar refinery near Savannah.

Doctors say 18 victims under treatment at a burn center in Augusta are likely to survive serious burns, despite 15 of the patients being in critical condition.

All of the victims suffered burns over 30 percent of their bodies. About half suffered burns over more than 50 percent of their bodies. Most were third degree burns.

The 15 who are in critical condition are in medically induced comas, and on ventilators.

The blast burned the victims on their faces, torsos, upper extremities and legs.

"Through the weekend, they will all be going into surgery," says Dr. Fred Mullins, medical director of the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta. The center is the closest burn treatment center to Savannah, even though it's more than 140 miles away. "Through the weekend they will all be going into surgery. During surgery, there is blood loss as well as the burn itself can create the need for blood and they'll require multiple, multiple transfusions."

That situation has blood banks in Augusta appealing to the public to donate blood and platelets over the next few weeks.

Mullins says the victims were very close to the explosion.

"Just by talking to some of the patients who were not intubated and looking at the patients that were, they were right there at the explosion," says Mullins. "Some of the patients told me that after the explosion occurred, it blew them greater than ten feet up in the air."

Doctors say recovery will take a long time.

It will be months before some of the patients are even able to leave the hospital.

The Associated Press is reporting that about 50 people were injured in the blast.

There have been conflicting reports on the number of people who died.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the disaster.

Savannah refinery blast injures dozens, 6 missing

Six workers at a sugar refinery near Savannah are unaccounted for this morning after an explosion that injured at least 40-people, some critically.

The explosion happened around 8pm last night in a holding area for refined sugar at the Imperial Sugar Company’s massive plant just north of Savannah. The blast sent at least eight workers to a regional burn center in Augusta and pressed into service first responders region-wide. Matthew Stanley of the Savannah Fire Department says, fire-fighters suspended their search for missing workers when it became too dangerous.

"The structure is heavily damaged. It’s just not a good area for our crews to be working, particularly at night. It’s just not safe for them. And they have searched everywhere they possibly can in the areas where they can get. Hopefully, at first light, we can get a better idea of what we’re working with and get crews back in there".

Authorities won’t speculate on what caused the explosion, but they say, the fire is structural, not chemical. They expected still to be fighting the blaze this morning, due to its size. The building it engulfed is described as several hundred thousand square feet.

Fire-fighters strained local water supplies last night trying to quell the massive blaze in the town of Port Wentworth, just a few miles upriver from downtown Savannah. Jeff Farmberg of the town’s public works department said, some residents around the sugar refinery might not have full water service while crews are still on-scene.

"What I would like to do is ask anybody in Port Wentworth that is on the north side of I-95 that are experiencing any type of low water pressure just to deal with it for now. We’re experiencing some water pressure issues up in that area because we’re having to diver water this direction".

Tug boats on the Savannah River were helping to pump water to about forty fire-fighters working in rotating crews from aerial trucks. Traffic at the Port of Savannah was suspended and more than 5-hundred students at nearby Port Wentworth Elementary School were told to stay home today.