Blast rocks Texas oil refinery; injures 4

(CNN) -- A powerful oil refinery explosion rocked the west Texas town of Big Spring on Monday injuring four people, a company spokesman said.

The explosion occurred about 8:20 a.m. at the Alon-USA refinery in Big Spring, about 300 miles west of Dallas, Texas, according to witnesses. Video from CNN I-Reporters showed a massive cloud of smoke forming over the refinery after the blast.

The fire was brought under control about 9:30 a.m. but continued burning Monday afternoon, company spokesman Blake Lewis said.

One of the plant's 170 employees and three contractors were hurt by the blast, and all other workers had been accounted for, he said.

"Now that people are accounted for, the next focus is getting the fire out to collect data on the status of the refinery and what caused the incident," Lewis said. "We'll have to figure out what the work plan will be to restore the facility."

Lewis said the plant produces unleaded gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel, jet fuel and asphalt. But its capacity of about 70,000 barrels a day is "a modest footprint" compared to the total U.S. refining capacity, he said.

The refinery supplies West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Oklahoma and Arkansas with fuel products and asphalt, the company Web site says.

Residents were startled and frightened by the blast.

"It shook the house a bit. It was a pretty good-sized boom," said Larry Bates, whose home is next to the refinery. Watch huge cloud of smoke over refinery »

Another neighbor, Diane Murphy said: "It actually popped some our doors open."

"I thought it would knock the walls down," John Moseley, managing editor of the local newspaper, the Big Spring Herald, told The Associated Press.

"It was extremely scary. You shook, you were so scared," Laura McEwen, who lives about two miles from the refinery, told the AP. "Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."

CNN affiliate KOSA-TV reported that Interstate 20, which passes the refinery, had been shut down.

Residents living within a mile of the facility were asked to evacuate, according to KOSA. E-mail to a friend

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