in the gas explosion disaster , the towing vessel miss megan , although was of specifications that did not undergo inspection by the united americans coastline guard , was being operated in the west cote blanche bay oil platform in louisiana by chain boat rv on behalf of athena construction on october 12 , 2006 . the missed mckenna was pushing barge ibr 234 , which was driven into the aft edge of barge goddess 106 , a route to a pile - feeding location . athena construction did not require its crews to pin mooring spuds ( vertical steel spikes extending through wells in the bottom of the boat and used for mooring ) permanently in service on its shoreline and unfortunately this had not been attempted . during the journey , the aft webb on the pantheon 106 released from its fully rising position . the silencer sank into the water and met a sunken , high - pressure natural petrol pipeline . the resulting gas also ignited and created a fireball that encompassed the towing vehicle and both barges . the master of the ferry vessel and its barge crew were lost . the missing megan deckhand and one barge worker lost . one barges owner is officially described as missing .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.