Ten Die in New Mexico Pipeline Explosion
Aug 20 3:55am ET
<<<CARLSBAD, N.M. (Reuters) - Ten people, including five children, were killed and two others critically injured on Saturday when a natural gas pipeline exploded in a remote area in southeastern New Mexico, police said on Sunday.
They said the victims were on a family camp-out along the Pecos River when the powerful explosion occurred.
``There was a rupture in the line and it blew up underground. There was a large ball of fire and a huge crater,'' said New Mexico State Police Capt. John Balderston.
Officials for El Paso Energy Corp (EPG.N), owners of the pipeline, said the cause of the explosion was not yet known.
The blast occurred about 30 miles southeast of Carlsbad, which is near Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the Texas border. Balderston said the fireball from the explosion was visible in the town.
He said 12 members of a New Mexico family were camping near a bridge on the Pecos on a weekend fishing trip. The pipeline crossed the river at that point.
``We found fishing poles, sleeping bags and camping gear at the site,'' Balderston said.
Six died at the scene and six others were taken to hospitals in Lubbock, Texas and Galveston, Texas, where four of them died, Balderston said.
Two were in critical condition with severe burns, he said.
He said a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board was flying in from Washington to investigate the blast.
El Paso Energy spokesman Mel Scott said the 30-inch pipeline carried natural gas from the West Texas oilfields to California. Company officials said the pipeline had been inspected recently and found to be in good shape.
He said the blast occurred at about dawn and that El Paso Energy crews shut off the flow of gas about 45 minutes later.
Scott said it was not yet known how the explosion would affect gas supplies or electric generation for California, where electricity prices have soared this summer because of tight power supplies.
``We're working closely with our customers and other pipelines to help out the situation and they've been cooperative so far. ... we'll have a better understanding of how that's going to be affected later on today,'' he said.
El Paso Energy Corp, based in Houston, is North America's largest gas pipeline operator, with 38,600 miles of pipeline spanning the country.>>> |
