Search for missing three after pipeline blast
An aerial search resumed at dawn today for three people missing after a natural gas pipeline explosion that killed three others off the coast of Louisiana.
The blast occurred when a tugboat pushing two barges hit the pipeline yesterday about two miles from shore and 100 miles south-west of New Orleans, the coastguard said. A man on a nearby beach saw flames shooting into the sky and called authorities, said coastguard Petty Officer 2nd Class Nyx Cangemi.
“There were 100-foot flames at that point,” Cangemi said.
In addition to a coastguard helicopter, sheriff’s department boats and volunteers searched for the missing people. The tug boat had two people aboard, and six people were on the barge, Cangemi said. Coastguard rescue crews recovered three bodies and two survivors. One survivor was taken to hospital with severe burns, said coastguard spokeswoman Veronica Bandrowsky. The other was not injured, she said.
Gulfport Energy Corp. said the accident involved two contracted vessels working for the company in a large energy field. The company said all its own employees were accounted for but it was still trying to get information on its contract workers.
