About 1:05 p.m., on August 9, 1976, a road grader ruptured a 20-inch United Gas Pipe Line Company transmission line near Cartwright, Louisiana, and natural gas at 770 psig escaped and ignited within seconds. The resulting flames engulfed the area and killed six persons, injured one person, and caused extensive property damage. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the ignition of natural gas that was escaping from a pipeline which had been ruptured by a road grader whose operator was unaware of the pipeline's existence. Contributing to the accident was the previous construction of a road over the pipeline right-of-way which reduced the pipeline's cover, and the failure of the Jackson Parish Police Jury to notify the pipeline's operator of the road maintenance work.
Pipeline Accident Report. United Gas Pipe Line Company, 20-Inch Pipeline Rupture and Fire, Cartwright, Louisiana, August 9, 1976
1977
22 pages
Report
No indication
English