Casualties & Wounds
While sources disagree on the exact number of deaths, it is estimated that 500 to 600 people died in the explosion. The wounded numbered into the thousands. An exact count of the dead would have been difficult to get because of the condition of many of the bodies. There were also a number of foreign seamen and non-census laborers present who may have gone unaccounted for.
The work of identifying bodies continued through mid-June of 1947, carried out by the Houston Identification Bureau, the Department of Public Safety, Vic Landig (the chair of the city's Burial Committee), Judge G.P. Reddell, and citizens of Texas City.
References
View the Reference Sources page.