30 tons of bomb-grade ammonium nitrate vanish from sealed rail car in western US

Thirty tons of the same explosive chemical used by right-wing domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City in 1995 has gone missing from a sealed rail car. McVeigh's bomb, which killed 168 people, used 2.5 tons of the chemical, ammonium nitrate.

Explosive manufacturer Dyno Nobel notified the federal the federal government that the ammonium nitrate disappeared between Wyoming and California sometime in April.

The seals on the car were still intact when the train arrived at its destination. In a statement, Dyno Nobel said, "The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the rail car may have developed in transit."

From The New York Times:

Dyno Nobel said that the rail car was transported back to Wyoming for further investigation and that it had "limited control" of the train's activity while the cargo was being transported.

Kristen South, a spokeswoman for the rail carrier, Union Pacific, said in a statement that the company's investigation was in its "early stages."

"The fertilizer is designed for ground application and quick soil absorption," Ms. South said. "If the loss resulted from a rail car leak over the course of transportation from origin to destination, the release should pose no risk to public health or the environment."