One man is in jail and another is in the hospital after what Lauderdale County authorities believe was a methamphetamine lab explosion.

Commander of the East Mississippi Drug Task Force, Steve Spears, said Tuesday afternoon Steven D. Harris, 40, of 9085 Pine Springs Road in Meridian, has been charged with manufacturing of a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine. Another man, who has not been identified as yet because he has not been formally charged in connection with the incident, is said to be in stable condition in a Meridian hospital after the alleged homemade lab exploded. One of the glass containers shattered, said Spears, severing the man’s carotid artery.

Ward Calhoun, chief deputy of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, said initially deputies were called to the Harris residence Friday at about 8:50 p.m. after controllers at Central Dispatch were alerted to a vehicle bringing a man to a Meridian emergency room suffering from a severe cut to the throat. When deputies and an ambulance met the vehicle on Pine Springs Road to transfer the man, deputies continued on to the Harris home looking for other victims. While there they found a great deal of blood and what they thought was a makeshift lab commonly used to produce crystal meth.

“At that point we were called in,” said Spears. “We secured a search warrant and ultimately from the investigation took Harris into custody charging him with the offenses.”

Spears said during the “cooking” process of manufacturing the illegal narcotic, fumes can become extremely potent. He said it isn’t uncommon to hear of meth labs exploding and in some cases, killing those in close proximity.

“This is a very dangerous process,” Spears said.

More arrests are possible in the case, Spears said.