Dozens injured in U.S. sugar refinery blast

By Matthew Bigg

Six people were unaccounted for and firefighters were attempting to put out the blaze apparently started by a blast in a bagging room at the Imperial Sugar company plant in Port Wentworth, a suburb of Savannah, said police Sgt. Mike Wilson.

"We are still in a search and rescue operation. This is still a fluid and active scene. We still have firefighters actively fighting the blaze at this point," Wilson said at around midnight local time (5 a.m. British time).

Jay David Goldstein, chief of emergency medicine at Memorial University Medical Centre in Savannah, described the incident as: "serious, pretty significant" and said many of the plant workers injured were in critical condition.

A Memorial hospital statement said 32 patients were taken to Memorial and five patients were also brought to St Joseph's Candler hospital in Savannah, Candler spokeswoman Betsy Yates said.

Imperial Sugar is the largest processor and refiner of sugar in the United States and is based in Texas. It includes the Imperial Sugar brand in that state and the Dixie Crystals brand in the south east, according to a company Web site.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)