An explosion at a Texas dairy farm kills 18,000 cows.

Sheriff Sal Rivera told the local news source KFDA that the majority of the cattle had perished after the fire extended to a location where cows were kept before being transported to a milking station and then a holding pen.

He was cited as stating, “There are some that survived.” There are several that will likely need to be destroyed since they are so severely wounded.

According to Mr. Rivera, the fire may have been sparked by a device known as a “honey badger,” which he described as a “vacuum that sucks the manure and water out.”

He speculated that it may have overheated and that the methane and other gases may have ignited, spread, and exploded as a result.

The Animal Welfare Institute, based in Washington, DC, claimed in a statement to the BBC that, if accurate, a death toll of 18,000 cows would be the “by far” deadliest barn fire to affect cattle since it started compiling statistics in 2013.

Allie Granger, policy associate for AWI’s farm animal program, said: “We hope the industry will remain focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to adopt common sense fire safety measures.” Being burnt alive is the most worst possible scenario.

About 6 million hens and 7,300 cows were among the nearly 6.5 million farm animals destroyed in barn fires since 2013, according to the AWI.