On Monday, 18,000 cows were killed, and one person was left in critical condition during an explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas panhandle. The catastrophic event occurred in the milking building, and the tight-packed quarters amplified the effect of the deadly detonation; bystanders aren’t hopeful that many survived the inferno. Thankfully most employees of the farm were located and reported safe. However, one woman in the dairy building at the time of the explosion was transported to a local hospital, where she is being treated for her injuries. Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera says the explosion was most likely caused by manure and water overheating, leading to the cows’ methane igniting and exploding.
FOX NEWS: Texas dairy explosion leaves at least 18,000 cattle dead, 1 person critically injured
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten; April 12, 2023
Approximately 18,000 cows were killed, and one person was critically injured, in an explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle on Monday.
The Castro County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with Fox News Digital that the cows were in a holding area before being brought in for milking when the blast occurred at the Southfork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt.
Very few cows in the holding area survived, officials told local outlet KFDA.
“Your count probably is close to that. There’s some that survived, there’s some that are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed,” Castro County Sherif Sal Rivera told KFDA.
Police said they received eight calls just before 7:30 p.m. Monday about an explosion and fire. Callers said some employees were trapped inside the milking building.
When law enforcement officials arrived at the dairy farm, they determined only a woman was trapped in the dairy building.
Officials said the trapped individual was rescued from the building and airlifted to UMC Hospital in Lubbock for treatment. Lubbock is located about 80 miles from Dimmitt.
When law enforcement officials arrived at the dairy farm, they determined only a woman was trapped in the dairy building.
Officials said the trapped individual was rescued from the building and airlifted to UMC Hospital in Lubbock for treatment. Lubbock is located about 80 miles from Dimmitt.
“The speculation was probably what they call a honey badger, which is a vacuum that sucks the manure and water out and possibly that it got overheated and probably the methane and things like that ignited and spread out and exploded and the fire,” Rivera told local outlet KSAT.