Investigators now believe a massive blast at a Tennessee military explosives facility killed 16 people.

Officials had previously said 18 people were unaccounted for in Friday's explosion, but two people whose vehicles and personal items were found at the scene were not actually there when the blast erupted, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a press conference on Saturday.

The explosion, which was felt for kilometres, levelled a building at the five square kilometre headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems in Bucksnort, about an hour's drive west of Nashville. Officials have notified the families of all 16 people killed, the sheriff said.

"We'll call them victims, our loved ones," a tearful Davis said.

Earlier on Saturday, Davis confirmed the operation had shifted from resc

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