US: An explosion rocked a BP petrochemical plant in the US yesterday, killing at least four people and sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky.
BP spokesman Hugh Depland confirmed multiple fatalities and injuries, and rescuers have been pulling survivors from the rubble.
Up to 10 other people were rushed to hospital after the blast at the plant in Texas City, Texas.
John Lee, the Galveston emergency management office, said people living nearby were warned to stay inside.The cause of the blast was not immediately known. Texas City is about 35 miles southeast of Houston.
"It was just a real loud explosion," Texas City resident Mike Martin told the Houston Chronicle.
"It sounded like a sonic boom, and it shook the pictures bad enough to where it knocked them off the wall. And it frightened me, so I jumped out of bed."