2 Still Missing After Sugar Refinery Fire

6 Killed At Ga. Factory; Burning, Solidifying Sugar Creating Obstacle To Recovery

(CBS/AP)  Firefighters hoped a dose of sand would finally extinguish smoldering fires that have stalled the search for two workers still missing on Monday, four days after a deadly explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery.

Search crews found the body of one of three missing workers on Sunday before the search was called of at sunset, Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said. That pushed the death toll to six, with dozens more injured.

One of the refinery's three 100-foot storage silos blew up late Thursday, possibly after combustible sugar dust ignited. Fire Chief Greg Long said firefighters hoped Monday to smother the fires by using construction cranes to dump sand into the silos.

Officials have not yet searched part of the Imperial Sugar plant that was still burning and where buildings were dangerously unstable.

The burning sugar in the two silos threatens to weaken the towering structures to the point of collapsing if the fire isn't extinguished soon, Long said.

Long said search crews had covered 95 percent of the massive refinery. Long said it was unlikely company officials had miscounted the number of missing workers.

The areas that had not yet been searched were on the first floor of a building near the explosion, including a break room, where upper floors had collapsed, Long said.

Mounds of sugary sludge pouring out of the silos Sunday was solidifying, creating another obstacle to the recovery. A firefighter said his search team had to use power tools to tear down a door glued shut by sticky sludge.

"As you've got sugar that's crystalizing and running down the chutes, it's like concrete," Savannah-Chatham County police Sgt. Mike Wilson said.

Strong winds coming off the Savannah River made conditions even more hazardous for crews trying to prevent the silos and plant buildings from collapsing, Savannah Fire Capt. Matt Stanley said.

None of the six recovered bodies have been positively identified, said Savannah-Chatham County police Detective Josh Hunt.
On Sunday, a group of motorcyclists from Savannah Christian Church rode in to offer their prayers for the victims, their families and emergency responders.

"You can't begin to imagine what these people are feeling who have lost these families and didn't have that last chance to say goodbye," Tip Tober told CBS News affiliate WTOL-TV in Savannah. "It's just a sad situation."

Seventeen workers remained hospitalized Sunday in critical condition with severe burns. Three others were released Sunday, said Beth Frits of the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta.

Company officials have refused to speculate on when the plant might reopen, saying structural engineers needed to examine the damage.

Sheptor said Saturday the company will continue to pay employees for the time being, but would not say for how long.

More than 300 dust explosions have killed more than 120 works in grain silos, sugar plants and food processing plants over the past three decades. Most are preventable by removing fine dust as it builds up, experts say.