The governor of the U.S. state of Texas said Monday that state oversight should not be blamed for a deadly fertilizer plant explosion that virtually leveled the small Texas town of West.

Gov. Rick Perry said he remained comfortable with the level of state oversight following last week's blast at the West Fertilizer plant, CBS News reported.

The powerful explosion occurred around 7:50 p.m. local time Wednesday at the fertilizer plant in West, a small town about 320 km north of Houston, Texas.

The blast killed at least 14 people and injured about 200 others. Another 60 remained unaccounted for in the blast, local officials said.

The plant, which is located near a number of schools and houses, was last inspected in 2006, according to media reports.

Authorities said they were the investigating the cause of the fire and subsequent explosion.

Assistant Texas Fire Marshal Kelly Kirstner told reporters Monday that there was "no indication" of how long the investigation would take, saying the probe was "like an archaeological dig."

Bryan Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said Monday that the explosion may have been triggered by a rail car that was reportedly loaded with ammonium nitrate.

"It's more likely - as I've done some analysis of that - that it's likely possibly a rail car with ammonium nitrate in it," The Houston Chronicle quoted Shaw as saying.

Shaw said identifying the cause of the explosion will help officials take action to prevent a repeat of such mishaps. Endi

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