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Town Settles After Deadly Plant Blast

Town gets $10.44 million for explosion that killed 15 people.

This April 18, 2013 aerial file photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center, and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. Federal authorities announced Wednesday, May 11, 2016, that the fire that caused the deadly explosion in 2013 was a criminal act. The explosion killed 15 people, injured hundreds and left part of the small town in ruins.
This April 18, 2013 aerial file photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center, and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. Federal authorities announced Wednesday, May 11, 2016, that the fire that caused the deadly explosion in 2013 was a criminal act. The explosion killed 15 people, injured hundreds and left part of the small town in ruins.
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File

WEST, Texas (AP) — A Central Texas town devastated by a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people, many of them emergency personnel, has reached a settlement of its lawsuit for damages caused by the blast.

The city council in West this week approved of accepting $10.44 million to settle its claims against the defendants, including makers and suppliers of ammonium nitrate, the explosive fertilizer involved in the blast, and Adair Grain Inc., owner of the fertilizer plant itself.

In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Tommy Muska said he is pleased with the settlement.

Attorney Steve Harrison, who represented the city, said manufacturer CF Industries will pay $6.4 million, supplier El Dorado Chemical will pay $3.9 million and Adair Grain will pay $143,000.

Settlements had been reached previously with families of victims and West Rest Haven, a nursing home badly damaged by the blast. Those settlements were confidential.

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