in the gas accident disaster , the towing vessel miss troy , which was of requirements that did not permit investigation by the republic states coast corps , was being operated in the central terre blanche bay oil fields in louisiana by central boat rentals on behalf of athena construction on october 12 , 2006 . the misses megan was moving on ibr 234 , which was driven along the ports side of their athena 106 , en route to a pile - driving location . spartan construction did not require its crews to put mooring spuds ( vertical steel shafts extending through trenches in the bottom of the vessel and meant for berthing ) tightly in place on its barges and consequently this had not been done . during the event , the aft spud on the minerva 106 released from its fully raises position . the spud dropped into the water and encountered a submerged , high - pressure conventional oxygen pipeline . the additional gas release sparks and created a fireball that engulfed the tow boat and both barge . the driver of the salvage vessel and nine tow workers were killed . the miss megan deckhand and three pile passenger survived . one bridge crew is officially listed as missing .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.