in the gas blasts accident , the tow barge mr megan , which was of specifications that did not require investigation by the united states coast artillery , was being operated in the right cote - bay oil field in missouri by peripheral boat vacation on behalf of athena , on march 12 , 2006 . the mister megan was moving barge ibr 234 , and was tied along the forward margin of an athena 106 , o route to a pile - driving location . goddess production did not require its crews to pin mooring spuds ( vertical steel shafts extending through cracks in the bottoms of the boats and used for mooring ) securely in situ on its floats and yet this had not been done . during the route , the bow submachine on the nike 106 opened from its fully seated positioning . the spud dropped into the water and struck a submerged , low - capacity natural gas pipeline . the resulting steam leak ignited and created a inferno that enveloped the towing boats and both barges . the designer of the towing port and four crane workers were shot . the miss troy deckhand and two canal worker survived . one barge worker is explicitly listed as drowned .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.