Dad took daughters to work, NE family says. They’re missing after plant explosion

A father and his two daughters are presumed dead a day after an explosion at a manufacturing plant in Nebraska, officials say.

The father, who has not been identified, took his daughter and stepdaughter to work with him Tuesday, July 29, at the Horizon Biofuels plant in Fremont, according to a family member.

Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg said in a news briefing the children were waiting for their father to get off work to go to a doctor’s appointment.

But just before noon Tuesday, a tower in the plant exploded for unknown reasons, trapping the dad and children as the area filled with smoke, Spellerberg said.

Robby Baker, the biological father to the second girl, described to KMTV a phone call the man gave to his wife after the explosion.

“Right after the building collapsed, he was pinned inside of it,” Baker told the station. “He made a phone call to his wife and said where the girls were at, get someone in there to get them out, and he was pinned in, and there was fire all around him.”

Baker said the two girls were trapped in the break room, according to WOWT.

“Which is in the bottom of the main tower,” he said. And it’s supposed to be a sturdy room. I don’t know if it’s made for an implosion like this.”

In his Wednesday morning briefing, Spellerberg said the search for the missing individuals has become a recovery mission.

He said the fire was still ongoing, and crews have not been able to assessthe building and its damaged structure. As of late Wednesday morning, first responders had not made entry.

“My heart hurts. It hurts for this situation, it’s a tragedy,” the mayor said.

“Our lives are in there; we need to get them out,” Baker told KMTV.

Horizon Biofuels manufactures wood pellets and animal bedding, according to the mayor. It employs 10 people.

Fremont is about a 40-mile drive northwest from Omaha.