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PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) — The Latest on Mississippi plant explosion (all times local):
6:20 a.m.
Two explosions rocked a natural gas plant in southern Mississippi, but emergency management officials say the two employees on duty at the time were not injured.
Earl Etheridge, Jackson County emergency manager, tells The Associated Press the workers were inside a safe room at the time of the explosions about 11:30 p.m. Monday. Etheridge says the second explosion was larger than the first and could be felt up to 10 miles away.
He said the fire continues to burn Tuesday morning, but has diminished in the last several hours.
He says the main damage is in the processing area.
The plant recently sold to a minority owner.
Rick Rainey, a spokesman for Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., says his company had owned 40 percent of the facility with BP owning 60 percent. Rainey says Houston-based Enterprise Products closed on the purchase earlier this month.
He says the cause of the explosion and fire is underway.
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2:16 a.m.
A late-night explosion and fire broke out at a natural gas plant in southern Mississippi, but there were no injuries or fatalities reported, police said early Tuesday.
Pascagoula Police Capt. Shannon Broom said authorities received a report about the explosion at a BP plant around 11:30 p.m. Monday. He told The Associated Press that the company reported that while employees were at the site when the blast happened, everyone appeared to be safe.
Broom, who was reached by phone near the scene, said firefighters were working early Tuesday to put out the fire.
He said authorities weren't aware of any injuries in the immediate aftermath but that details were still preliminary early Tuesday as fire crews were at the scene.
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Corrects in latest the owner of the plant is Enterprise Product Partner, L.P., not BP.
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