Holy shit. More terrible news...

Why the hell do they have fart factory in the middle of the town/city?

It's a fire, I doubt it's an attack. If it was an attack, they would most likely have blown the place up directly instead of setting it on fire.

I agree that it's just an unfortunate fire that caused the explosion, but if you want to blow a fertilizer factory the best way to do it would be to set it on fire. A smart attacker wouldn't plant a bomb on a bomb if it just needs a fuse.

Something like this happens every couple of years. I had friends living in Enschede, The Netherlands when the fireworks factory blew up destroying over 400 houses and damaging many more. After that they thought maybe it would be better to keep these out of towns...

"West Mayor Tommy Muska told reporters that his city of about 2,800 residents needs "your prayers."

No what they need is a Mayor with common sense that doesn't allow explosive factories near residential areas.

The number of dead is not really confirmed as of now. though the explosion did demolish an entire apartment building.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrpKx3aIjA&feature=youtu.bec

the video does not have the old code to embed. The explosion filmed by a father with his daughter. Pretty scary, the girls reaction well. Makes it real.

The explosion was equivalent to a 2.1 richtor scale earthquake.

i really hope that is a typo and you didn't just make a fart joke

So sad, lots of people getting blown up this week :(

But, Texas doesn't have the best safety record. In the Texas City Disaster ammonium nitrate was labeled by the state as 'not explosive.' I hope this one isn't some similar kind of omission.

What the attacker probably wants is attention and a fire doesn't quite get the attention a bomb gets. But true, a fire is probably much easier and I imagine bombs aren't exactly easy to get/create in the US these days so who knows.