TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) -- All but one of the 1,800 or so oil refinery workers have been accounted for after overnight search efforts following the thunderous blast killed 14 and injured more than 100 others, officials said Thursday.
''We think we found all the people,'' refinery manager Don Parus said.
The fiery blast Wednesday at BP's 1,200-acre plant near Houston shot flames high into the sky, forced schoolchildren to cower under their desks and showered plant grounds with ash and chunks of charred metal. Windows rattled more than five miles away.
Parus on Thursday confirmed the death toll at 14 but said further details would come from the medical examiner's office.
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Those who died were contractors for J.E. Merit Constructors Inc., a field services provider and subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. in Pasadena, Calif., Parus said. Merit's Houston office referred calls to Jacobs, whose phone lines were busy or not answered early Thursday.
BP refinery records indicate the one unaccounted-for worker checked out and left the refinery, but no one has heard from him, Parus said.
About 433,000 barrels of crude oil are processed a day at the plant, producing 3 percent of the U.S. supply. Other than the unit affected by the blast, the rest of the refinery was running normally, said Hugh Depland, spokesman for BP, formerly British Petroleum.
Gasoline prices could rise slightly because the plant is such a large gas producer. Gasoline futures rose nearly 2 cents in late trading Wednesday on news of the explosion. In afternoon trading Thursday in Europe, the price of unleaded gasoline for April delivery was up 2.8 cents.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. It happened in a part of the plant used to boost the octane level of gasoline. A thorough investigation is under way, BP America president Ross Pillari said Thursday.
''It's clear that we have a lot of work to do in the coming days to make sure we understand exactly what happened, and we're going to do that,'' Pillari said. ''We are going to put all of our resources into it.'' Federal investigators also planned to review the accident.
Wenceslado de la Cerda, a 50-year-old retired firefighter, said the blast shook the ground, rattled windows and knocked ceiling panels to the floor.
''Basically, it was one big boom,'' he said. ''It's a shame that people have to get killed and hurt trying to make a dollar in these plants, but that's part of reality.''
Valerie Perez was among those standing vigil outside the refinery fence late Wednesday, concerned about the fate of her 18-year-old husband, a BP worker.
''I'm nervous,'' she said, holding back tears.
The plant and town, population 40,000, have dealt with two other refinery accidents within the last year.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery nearly $110,000 after two employees were burned to death by superheated water in September.
Another explosion forced the evacuation of the plant for several hours last March. Afterward, OSHA fined the refinery $63,000 for 14 safety violations, including problems with its emergency shutdown system and employee training.
Texas City is the site of the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. In 1947, a fire aboard a ship at the Texas City docks triggered a huge explosion that killed 576 people and left fires burning in the city for days.
''Welcome to life in Texas City,'' Marion Taylor, 55, said Wednesday. ''I was born here and pretty much, it happens from time to time.''
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