Several factory workers have spoken out and revealed they were ordered not to leave their shifts early when the Kentucky tornado began closing in on their workplace.
The City of Mayfield was left particularly devastated following a Kentucky tornado outbreak during which several dozen people have lost their lives.
Now, several night-shift workers from the region spoke out and insisted they were banned from leaving the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory when they asked their superiors if they could go and seek shelter elsewhere.
According to the reports, at least four workers claimed that their managers threatened to fire them should they walk away from their shifts early even though the news of the imminent disaster had already spread throughout the factory at the time.
While some of the workers decided to abandon their posts and run for their lives nevertheless, many remained at the factory in fear of repercussions.
Hours after the first siren warning, the workers who remained at the factory returned to their posts believing that the danger was over. Moments later, the factory was hit hard by the twister, leaving at least eight people dead.
Recalling the devastating moment the facility was struck by a tornado, Autumn Kirks said she was trying to create a makeshift shelter when she briefly looked away from her boyfriend, Lannis Ward.point 338 |
After trying to face him again, the young man was nowhere to be seen, and it wasn’t until hours after the storm that he was found dead.point 111 | 1
Speaking out was also 21-year-old McKayla Emery who told NBC News that she had overheard supervisors telling her fellow workers that they would be fired if they left their shifts early despite the looming danger.
“People had questioned if they could leave or go home. If you leave, you’re more than likely to be fired. I heard that with my own ears,” she said.
Latavia Halliburton added: “Some people asked if they could leave, but managers told them they would be fired.”
Meanwhile, Haley Conder insisted that around 15 people requested to go home early moments before the tornado reached the factory.
“You can’t leave. You can’t leave. You have to stay here,” the supervisors allegedly told her. “The situation was bad. Everyone was uncomfortable.”
Echoing these allegations was also 37-year-old Mark Saxton who feels that the candle factory workers were “neglected.”
“That’s the thing. We should have been able to leave. The first warning came, and they just had us go in the hallway. After the warning, they had us go back to work. They never offered us to go home,” he said.
Following the disaster, the candle company confirmed that over 90 workers were rescued and 8 were found dead.
The company’s spokesperson also insisted that the workers’ allegations were not true and they could leave if they wanted to.
“It’s absolutely untrue. We’ve had a policy in place since Covid began. Employees can leave any time they want to leave and they can come back the next day. Those protocols are in place and were followed,” Bob Ferguson said.
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