CORBIN, Ky. (AP) -- State and federal investigators searched for the cause of a fiery explosion at an insulation factory that injured more than two dozen workers.
The fire at CTA Acoustics, which sent a plume of black smoke over this southern Kentucky town Thursday, apparently began near a furnace where raw fiberglass is mixed with resin and molded into sheets, said Jim Tomaw, a company lawyer. He said 150 of the company's 561 employees were in the plant.
``It was just like a tornado came through,'' said Helen Rutherford, 48. ``A big puff of wind blew all my paperwork into the floor. It just got black. I heard like a muffled boom.''
Elizabeth Ash, a spokeswoman for Madison Heights, Mich.-based CTA Acoustics, said 26 employees were injured. Some of the injured were burned over 70 to 90 percent of their bodies.
``We prepare as physicians for disasters _ I have never seen this,'' said Dr. George Liu, a general surgeon at Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin. ``The best thing people can do is pray for these people.''
The Corbin hospital said it treated some 30 victims. Several critical patients were transferred to burn centers at the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Hundreds of nearby residents who had been forced to flee from their homes were allowed to return Thursday night after firefighters extinguished the blaze.
There have been few violations at the plant, which won a governor's safety award in 2001 after going three years and 4 million hours without an injury.
But earlier this month, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet proposed to cite CTA for an allegedly serious violation involving safety guards on machinery, said Eddie Jacobs, spokesman for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet. A routine conference on the proposed citation had been set for Thursday, but was postponed after the blast. The allegation arose from an employee complaint _ the first ever from a CTA worker, Jacobs said.
The plant makes acoustical and thermal insulation products for the industrial and automotive industries. Tomaw said sales from the plant average $80 million to $90 million per year.
