Fifth Body Found at Sugar Refinery

Firefighters found another body in the wreckage of a Georgia sugar refinery Saturday, the fifth confirmed fatality from an explosion at the refinery.

Three employees at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth were still missing, the Savannah Morning News reported.

A crane and other heavy equipment were brought in to help with debris removal. Port Wentworth Fire Chief Greg Long said two floors had to be shored up, CNN reported.

Long said he still hoped some of the missing workers might be alive.

I’m still hopeful, he said. It’s still a rescue operation until it’s proven that it’s not.

Firefighters found four bodies Friday. Late in the day, the building was still smoldering, 24 hours after the explosion.

To get to three large silos, firefighters had to cross the main factory building, Long said. The fourth floor of the factory, used for refining and packing sugar, collapsed in the explosion.

Twenty people burned in the explosion remained hospitalized. One, with burns over 95 percent of his body, was in critical condition at the Medical College of Georgia, while the others were at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center. Both hospitals are in Augusta.