AMARILLO — The Texas Panhandle has seen its share of devastating industrial explosions, including a 1987 blast at Pampa’s Celanese plant that killed three people, a 1956 explosion that killed more than a dozen firefighters and a 1977 blast at the Pantex Plant that claimed the lives of three workers, Globe-News files show.
About 4 p.m. Nov. 15, 1987, two explosions ripped through the Hoechst Celanese plant, killing three men and injuring 40.
The blasts shattered windows for miles around the plant, forcing dozens of nearby residents to evacuate.