Status: 04/14/2023 10:26 am
More than 18,000 cattle have died after a devastating explosion at a Texas dairy farm. Authorities suspect that overheated technology caused the accident.
Around 18,000 cattle have died after a massive explosion at a dairy farm in the US state of Texas. An employee of the company could be rescued from inside a building and was injured and taken to the hospital.
“This was the deadliest cattle barn fire in Texas history and will take time to investigate,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
Animal rights activists call for better protection
The explosion and a fire occurred Monday at Southfork Dairy Farm near Dimmitt, the Salvador Rivera Castro County Sheriff said. The system for cleaning the barn has probably overheated. Methane could have ignited, he told the television station CBS. But there will be further investigations.
An animal protection organization called for fire protection to be improved on farms. A spokeswoman for the Animal Welfare Institute said a million chickens were killed in Indiana in 2013, the deadliest barn fire for animals since records began.