The second blast was anticipated by nearly everyone present. Ben Kaplan of KTHT news in Houston broadcasted live coverage of the second explosion over the radio: “Here comes another explosion … you have just heard it … The sky is like broad daylight.”

Virtually everyone was removed from the area by the time the ship exploded, limiting casualties from the second blast. The explosion wrecked the Keene and demolished the pier and several nearby grain elevators. Apart from that, it was difficult to tell what was damaged by the first blast and what by the second. Fires started by the first explosion worsened as the second blast spewed more shrapnel, flaming debris, and cargo into the air [9, 11].