A huge shipment of a dangerous explosive chemical has disappeared while being transported by rail between Wyoming and California, according to reports.
The disappearance of the 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used as both fertilizer and as a component in explosives, has triggered four separate investigations.
A railcar loaded with some 60,000 pounds of the chemical left Cheyenne, Wyoming on April 12.
However, it was found empty two weeks later at a rail stop in the Mojave Desert.
The company, Dyno Nobel, made reported the issue to the federal National Response Center (NRC) on May 10, according to a short incident report from the firm which shipped the ammonium, KQED reports.
The report also appeared last week in an NRC database of California incidents managed by the state Office of Emergency Services last Wednesday.
Ammonium nitrate is commonly used as fertilizer.
It’s also an ingredient in high explosives.
The chemical was used in the homemade bomb detonated in