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Death Toll In Sugar Refinery Blast Rises

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By RUSS BYNUM, The Associated Press

Published: February 10, 2008

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. - Crews on Saturday found another body in the remnants of a sugar refinery plant devastated late Thursday by an explosion and fire, raising the death toll to five, with three others still missing, officials said.

The body was found near the silos used to store sugar after crews shored up the plant's wobbly remnants, Fire Chief Greg Long said. Three workers and a supervisor were thought to be missing, but it was not clear whose body was found.

The search was expected to resume again today.

Crews re-entered what's left of the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery after stabilizing the upper floors of a four-story building. They needed access to that building to gain entry to an 80-foot silo that rescuers wanted to search for the men, Long said.

Crews brought in heavy equipment Saturday to remove debris as investigators looked for the cause of the blast that ignited a silo.

More than 30 employees were rushed to hospitals after Thursday's blast. Several were taken to a burn center in Augusta. Many were in critical condition, including some who were placed on ventilators, said William Wessinger, medical director at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah. A spokeswoman from the Savannah hospital said Saturday the last of nine workers treated there had been released.

Beth Frits, a spokeswoman for the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, said Saturday that 16 fire victims transferred from Memorial were in critical condition and three were in serious condition.

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