OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 10:43 AM – Thursday, April 13, 2023
Around 18,000 cows were killed, and one person was critically injured when an explosion occurred at a dairy farm in Texas.
The explosion happened at the Southfork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt, around 7:30 P.M. on Monday evening. The explosion had left around 18,000 cows dead, which is estimated to be around 20% of the total number of cows killed per day in the United States.
According to Fox News, the Castro County Sheriff’s Office had confirmed that the cows were in a holding area waiting to be brought into the facility for milking when the explosion occurred. Local outlet KFDA reported that “very few cows” survived the explosion.
Police said that they had received eight calls around 7:30 p.m. on Monday reporting the explosion and a fire, with some of the callers reporting that employees were still stuck inside the facility. Local law enforcement found one woman trapped in the facility when they arrived on scene.
The trapped individual was rescued and then airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, around 80 miles away from the scene of the explosion, for treatment.
Officials said that all other employees were safe and accounted for.
Although the exact cause of the explosion has not yet been confirmed, Sheriff Sal Rivera said that early indications point to the “honey badger” system overheating and catching fire which led to the explosion.
“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 KSAT.
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By: OAN
