{"id":2720,"date":"2011-09-14T16:30:45","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T23:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/?p=2720"},"modified":"2011-09-14T17:28:46","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T00:28:46","slug":"gas-explosion-blasts-iowa-soybean-processing-plant-three-seriously-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/14\/gas-explosion-blasts-iowa-soybean-processing-plant-three-seriously-injured\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas explosion blasts Iowa soybean processing plant; three seriously injured"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><strong>Published:<\/strong> Saturday, August 30, 2003<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"wl-story\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>Associated Press<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) \u2014 <strong>A gas explosion rocked a soybean  processing plant in western Iowa on Friday, injuring eight people \u2014  three critically \u2014 and sparking a fire, authorities said.<\/strong><strong>Fire crews extinguished the blaze after four hours at the Ag  Processing Inc. plant<\/strong>, about 20 miles south of Sioux City, said Woodbury  County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Brown.<\/p>\n<p>The injured were taken to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, where  one person was in critical condition and two others were in serious  condition, hospital officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the eight were airlifted to Nebraska Medical Center&#8217;s burn unit; both were in critical condition.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most of the severe injuries are related to burns and inhalation of  hot material,&#8221; said Dr. Larry Sellers, chief medical officer at Mercy  Medical Center.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The plant, which employs 50 people and makes soybean oil and  soybean meal, was shut down for cleaning and maintenance when the  explosion occurred just before 9 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Brown said the explosion involved hexane gas, a highly flammable  chemical used to extract vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ag Processing in Omaha, Neb., released a statement saying there was  no danger to the public. Officials with the farmer-owned cooperative  were investigating the cause of the explosion and the extent of the  damage, the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It may be several days before the exact cause is known,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>The company, which has about 1,600 employees, is the third-largest  supplier of refined vegetable oil in the United States, said spokesman  John Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>AG Processing has six plants in Iowa and one each in Nebraska, Missouri and Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>Also at the Port Neal complex is a Terra Industries Inc. fertilizer  plant, where a 1994 explosion killed four people, injured 18 and  released a toxic cloud of ammonia.<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/lubbockonline.com\/stories\/083003\/nat_083003054.shtml<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Video:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Listen to what this guy has to say about hexane, but don&#8217;t eat or drink soy products.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NZOKa7CQb8g<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published: Saturday, August 30, 2003 Associated Press SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) \u2014 A gas explosion rocked a soybean processing plant in western Iowa on Friday, injuring eight people \u2014 three critically \u2014 and sparking a fire, authorities said.Fire crews extinguished the blaze after four hours at the Ag Processing Inc. plant, about 20 miles south [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,632,635,634,335,363,190,633,25],"class_list":["post-2720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-estrogen","tag-explosion","tag-flammable","tag-hexane","tag-injury","tag-pufa","tag-soy","tag-soybeans","tag-toxic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2729,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions\/2729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.functionalps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}