METH LINK LIKELY IN EXPLOSION; 2 INJURED

Two Springfield men are in a local burn unit, critically injured
after a tank of anhydrous ammonia they were transporting ruptured and
exploded.

Authorities say the two were traveling down U.S. 71 outside Carthage
on Monday afternoon, headed toward Springfield in a 1992 red
Firebird, when one of three tanks they were carrying blew up. The
exploding tank was one of two in the car's back seat. A third was in
the trunk.

"A truck driver behind the car said he saw a huge white cloud in the
vehicle and then the cloud exited both sides of the vehicle," said
Sgt. Kent Casey of the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The car rolled to the right side of the road and the two men,
severely burned, literally fell from it, authorities said. The men
are in critical condition in the burn unit at St. John's Regional
Health Center.

Authorities are still investigating the explosion. Casey said it
isn't known if the anhydrous tanks were stolen or where the two were
going. But investigators do believe the tanks were being used to make
methamphetamine because other components were in the car.

The explosion and subsequent burn injuries are examples of what
authorities have been warning about during the past few years as the
manufacture of methamphetamine has grown in the Ozarks.

Meth itself is addictive and damaging. But the cooking process, which
users perform everywhere from rural areas to hotel rooms and
vehicles, can be deadly. The anhydrous ammonia used in the process is
especially hazardous.

"It literally can burn them inside out," said Dr. Kenneth Larson,
director of the burn unit at St. John's. Severe exposure can cause
the skin to peel off, damage the respiratory organs and penetrate -
and eventually melt - the cornea, causing blindness, Larson said.

That's why medical experts and police hope people learn from Monday's
explosion.

"I hope this gets plastered all over the media and shows some of
these yahoos dealing in this stuff what can happen to them so fast,"
said Barton County Sheriff Bill Griffitt, who has seen an
overwhelming rise in anhydrous ammonia thefts in his county. "They
are dealing with something more deadly than the car they are driving.
This is deadly."