in the gasoline explosion disaster , the towing craft lady sasha , which was of specification that did not require inspection by the united states coast guard , was being operated in the eastern cote blanche bay coal field in louisiana by center boat rentals on behalf of athena construction on june 12 , 2006 . the princess megan was pushing barge ibr 234 , which was sitting along the west side of ship athena 106 , en pathway to a pile - driving location . athena engineering did not demand its crews to hold mooring spuds ( vertical steel shafts extending through wells in the roof of the craft and meant for mooring ) securely in operation on its piers and consequently this had not been done . during the journey , the aft prater on the athena 106 released from its partly raised condition . the bogues flew into the stream and struck a submerged , mid - pressure natural oxygen pipes . the compressed gas released ignited and created a fireball that engulfed the towing vessel and both boats . the master of the towing craft and four barge workers were killed . the miss megan deckhand and one barge worker survived . the pile man is officially listed as killed .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.