3 people killed Tuesday in 2 natural gas explosions

Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 2010 8:01 pm
By: AP

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — An explosion in the Texas Panhandle that killed two men was the second deadly blast in the state in two days involving workers who have accidentally hit natural gas lines.
The blast Tuesday involved a crew that was removing caliche — commonly used in cement — from a pit for a dirt-contracting company, Lipscomb County Sheriff James Robertson said in a news release. The explosion happened when a bulldozer struck a pipeline in a remote area of the Texas Panhandle near Darrouzett, about 270 miles northeast of Lubbock and just a few miles from the Oklahoma border.
A day earlier, one worker was killed when a utility crew accidentally hit and ruptured a natural gas line in rural Johnson County, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.
Fred Haag, chief operating officer of Oklahoma-based C&H Power Line Construction Services, said that crew followed the proper procedures in locating the line before digging. The crew was drilling a hole for an 80- to 120-foot utility pole when the gas line was struck and ruptured, sending a massive fireball into the air that burned out about two hours later after the gas flow was shut off.
Published in The Messenger 6.9.10