Explosion and fire kill 18,000 cows on US dairy farm

More than 18,000 cattle have died and a farmworker has been left with critical injuries after an explosion and fire at a US dairy farm.

Fire broke out on Monday evening (10 April) at Southfork Farm – a year-old, well-equipped unit – in Dimmitt, Texas. The explosion rocked nearby houses and a pall of smoke could be seen 30 miles away.

The fire spread so rapidly that farmworkers were trapped inside the milking parlour by smoke and flames or were beaten back by the heat, preventing them from freeing cattle.

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On arrival, firefighters devoted their efforts to rescuing the trapped workers. One woman took longer to free and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Although the total number of cattle deaths is still to be confirmed, local government officials said only a small percentage of the farm’s 20,000 cows had survived.

Machinery blamed

Police suggested that the fire was started by a piece of machinery that overheated before exploding. Other speculation pointed to the machinery fire igniting a gas source, causing a fireball that engulfed the cattle housing.

Castro County police sheriff Sal Rivera confirmed that early speculation pointed to a machine overheating and a subsequent explosion.

Mr Rivera also confirmed that the farm’s 60 employees had all been accounted for, but would not speculate on the number of cattle deaths.

“There’s some cattle that survived, there’s some that are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed,” he said.

The Texas Fire Marshall has launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.