in the water explosion disaster , the towing vessel miss it , it was of specifications that did not require inspection by the unite states civil watch , was being run in the west coup blanche valley oil field in louisiana by the boat rent on terms of advanced construction on october 12 , 2006 . the miss megan was pushing barge ibr 234 , which was tied up the ports side of barge athena 106 , en route to a pile - driving device . athena constructed did not require its crews to pin mooring spuds ( rectangular wood shafts protruding through wells in the top of the submarine and uses for mooring ) securely in location on its barges and consequently this had not been done . during the route , the aft crudup on the athena 106 released from its fully raised condition . the spud jumped into the stream and struck a degraded , high - pressure compressed fuel pipeline . the generated liquid attack ignited and created a fireball that submerged the towing vessel and both boats . the captain of the lifting vessel and four barge workers were killed . the miss megan deckhand and another barge worker escaped . one steamboat worker is not classified as missing .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.