Residents in Atchison report seeing red glow, loud explosion

ATCHISON COUNTY, Kansas -
UPDATE 10:32PM - A spokesman for the City of Atchison says crews believe everyone is out of the structure but not everyone has been accounted for.

The spokesman says crews will likely be at the scene overnight and into the morning looking for anyone trapped or clues to the cause of the explosion.

UPDATE 9:55PM - NBC Action News reporter Jake Peterson, from the scene, says officials have set up a one-mile perimeter around the facility on fears of a second explosion.

An Atchison County, Kan. Sheriff Deputy told Peterson that at least one person died in the explosion, though a city official was unable to immediately confirm the report.

A spokesman for the KU Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. says two patients from the explosion were transported via medical helicopter with critical injuries from burns. The spokesperson did not know of any additional patients heading toward KU.

UPDATE 9:21PM - Atchison, Kan. Councilman Larry Purcell says the plant is busy this time of year receiving, storing or delivering shipments of grain.

Purcell, who lives more than half-a-mile from the grain facility, said his windows shook from the explosion around 7:25.

UPDATE 9:01PM - Firefighting units from Johnson County, Kan. have now been dispatched to the scene.

UPDATE 8:55PM - A Technical Rescue unit from the Kansas City, Kan. Fire Department has been dispatched out to the scene of the explosion at the Bartlett Grain Elevator.

A family member with Atchison Mayor Allen Reavis said the mayor was out of town Saturday night but had been in communication with city leaders regarding the explosion.

Authorities are still not able to provide any injury information.

EARLIER - Residents in Atchison, Kan. have told NBC Action News of a loud explosion south of the city Saturday night.

At least one resident told NBC Action News that she saw a red glow, followed by a mushroom cloud and a loud explosion near a grain elevator on the south end of the town near Riverfront Road.

Kansas Highway Patrol troopers were heading to the scene shortly after the explosion, reported around 7:25 p.m. according to witnesses.

Atchison County Sheriff Dispatchers weren’t immediately able to confirm whether anyone was injured in the explosion.