The explosion that killed at least 18,000 cattle at a dairy farm in Dimmitt, Texas, earlier this week is the deadliest barn fire involving cattle in the state, according to a nonprofit organization.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) told Fox News Digital in a statement via email that the incident at Southfork Dairy Farm on Monday night is "by far the deadliest barn fire for cattle overall and the most devastating barn fire in Texas since we began tracking barn fires in 2013."

"We hope the industry will remain focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to adopt commonsense fire safety measures," said Allie Granger, policy associate for AWI's farm animal program. "It is hard to imagine anything worse than being burned alive."

Nearly 6.5 million farm animals have died in barn fires since 2013, according to an AWI report. In 2021 alone, the report said that 681,825 farm animals were killed in barn fires. 

INDIANA RECYCLING PLANT CITED BEFORE MASSIVE FIRE CAUSED EVACUATION ORDERS, CANCELED SCHOOL

Farm animals are often packed into barns, limiting the opportunity to escape during an emergency and contributing to the high number of animal fatalities during barn fires, the nonprofit’s report said.

The Castro County Sheriff’s Office previously confirmed with FOX Digital that the cows were in a holding area before being brought in for milking when the blast occurred.

Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera told KFDA that while some cows did survive, others "are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed."

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Rivera told the station it is likely that a vacuum that sucks in manure and blows out water may have gotten overheated and caused methane and other properties to ignite.

The AWI analysis said that of the 539 total barn fires between 2018 and 2021, the cause or likely cause was reported in just 179 cases – or about 33%. In many of the remaining cases, the destruction was too severe to determine a cause, and, in some cases, the cause remains under investigation.

SUIT ALLEGES GAS LEAK AT PENNSYLVANIA CHOCOLATE FACTORY WENT IGNORED BEFORE EXPLOSION

In those 179 cases, the report stated that nearly two-thirds of the barn fires involved electrical heating devices or other electrical malfunctions.

Some of the deadliest barn fires recorded occurred at a facility in Bloomfield, Nebraska, in which 400,000 chickens were killed in 2020, and another in Waseca County, Minnesota, where 12,000 pigs died in 2021, according to the report.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The blast at the Southfork Dairy Farm also critically injured one employee. She was being treated at a hospital and no update on her condition was immediately available.

Hordes of revelers toted colorful water guns Thursday as Thailand kicked off its exuberant three-day Songkran festival at full blast for the first time since 2019, hoping for a significant boost in tourism after the industry was devastated by coronavirus travel restrictions.

The New Year celebration's signature water fighting — a major draw for tourists — had been banned or discouraged since 2020 to curb the spread of the virus, and its full-scale return was widely promoted. In Bangkok alone, there are 40 designated spots this year for public water splashing, including the touristy Khao San Road where vendors hawked food, clothes and water-fighting gear in the scorching heat.

The festival, which is also celebrated in neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, falls at the hottest time of the year when temperatures can creep above 104 Fahrenheit.

OVER 60 ASYLUM-SEEKING CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH MEMBERS EN ROUTE TO US AFTER BEING DETAINED IN THAILAND

While many tourists and locals congregate in the capital, millions of workers head home to rural provinces to see family and celebrate by cleansing images of the Buddha for luck, throwing water on each other, and washing the hands and feet of elders to pay respect and ask for a blessing.

Police geared up for the "Seven Dangerous Days" — taking into account the travel days on either end of Songkran — during which traffic-related casualties spike in a country where road traffic death rates ranked No. 9 worldwide in the WHO’s 2018 road safety report. Many accidents involve drunk driving, and motorcyclists account for a large number of the deaths.

THAILAND TRIES TO CONTAIN OVERNIGHT FIRE THAT ENGULFED 2 MOUNTAINS

The Tourism Authority of Thailand projects this year’s Songkran festival will help generate more than $530 million in revenue and bring in more than 300,000 international travelers for the holiday week — a 525% increase over the same period in 2022, but just 58% of 2019’s number from before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Although the country gradually eased up travel restrictions before fully reopening in October, local entrepreneurs remain concerned about the pace of recovery.

Thailand received about 40 million international visitors in 2019. That number decreased sharply to 6.7 million in 2020 and fewer than 500,000 in 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.