Sugar Plant Explosion Claims 11th Life
Patient Dies Of Burns Sustained In Georgia Plant Blast, 14 Still Hospitalized
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Imperial Sugar employee Ginger Faulconer, center, places hard hats on 10 wreaths during a memorial service Saturday Feb. 23, 2008 in Savannah, Ga. for the victims of a explosion at the plant earlier this month. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
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First responder, Roy Howard with the City of Savannah Fire Department, who has been on the scene since the explosion last Thursday, pauses as he fields questions from members of the media about the conditions firefighters are faced with in recovering the two workers that are still unaccounted for at the Imperial Sugar Company, Sunday Feb. 10, 2008, in Port Wentworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
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The burned and twisted super structure near the blast area at Imperial Sugar Company plant, Friday, Feb. 8, 2008, in Port Wentworth, Ga. is now the site of a recovery for missing workers. (AP Photo/Richard Burkhart)
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Smoke billows from behind the main plant of the Imperial Sugar Company during a fire at the plant on the Savannah River, Feb. 7, 2008 in Port Wentworth, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
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Play CBS Video Video Aftermath of Sugar Explosion The search for three missing workers is underway in Port Wentworth, Georgia after a major explosion devastated a local sugar refinery. Kelly Cobiella reports on the rescue effort's obstacles.
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Video Sugar Plant Casualties Rise A deadly explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery has claimed five lives and injured many more. And the tragedy has shaken the small town of Port Wentworth to its core. Kelly Cobiella reports.
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Video 4 Dead In Sugar Factory Blast At least four people are dead and many more are injured after an explosion ripped through the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga. Kelly Cobiella reports.
Two weeks after the blast at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth, 12 other patients remain in critical condition at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta. Two are in serious condition.
A 15th patient, whose name was not released, died Saturday evening, bringing the total death toll from the incident to 11, said Beth Frits of the Burn Center.
A memorial had been held earlier in the day for the other victims, the 10th of whom died Friday.
The explosion was fueled by airborne sugar dust at the refinery, near Savannah, investigators have said. They have not yet determined what ignited it.
Company officials have refused to speculate on when the plant might reopen, saying structural engineers needed to examine the damage.
Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor has said 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.
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