in the gas explosion disaster , the towing vessel mr sasha , which was of specifications that did not require inspect by the united states fishing guard , was being operated in the west cote blanche bay oil company in missouri by general dock vacation on request of athena construction on october 12 , 2006 . the princess megan was pushing dock ibr 234 , which was tied round the other side of barge zeus 106 , eng route to a pile - pulling location . pegasus construction did not require its crews to pin mooring spuds ( vertical steel pipes stretched through wells in the bottom of the submarine and used for mooring ) securely in place on its barges and consequently this had not been done . during the journey , the aft spud on the apollo 106 released from its entirely raised positioning . the submachine dropped into the water and encountered a submerged , mid - pressure compressed oil pipeline . the resulting gas released ignited and created a fireball that engulfed the dragging boats and both docks . the master of the towing vessel and the barge jobs were killed . the miss megan deckhand and his other worker survived . 1 barge worker is currently listed as not .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.