NTSB calls for better testing after Mississippi pipeline blast killed 2 people in ‘07
By Ben Evans, APWednesday, October 14, 2009
NTSB discusses Miss. pipeline blast failures
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says better pipeline testing might have prevented a 2007 propane explosion that killed two people in rural Mississippi.
The blast destroyed four houses near Carmichael in the central part of the state and caused $3.4 million in property damage. The explosion was caused by a large rupture in an 1,100-mile pipeline that runs from Texas to North Carolina.
Investigators weren’t sure how the break occurred but said current pressure testing isn’t adequate to detect such failures.
Investigators also found the pipeline’s owner, Houston-based Dixie Pipeline Co., had failed to include area houses in its safety awareness program and that 911 operators weren’t part of the company’s planning to respond to such an accident.
