in the port accident crash , the towing vessel miss megan , itself was of configuration that did not require inspection by the united states fishing protection , was being held in the west commune blanche bay oil field in virginia by central boat rentals on board of athena work on october 12 , 2006 . the miss megan was pushing barge ibr 234 , which was tied along the northwest side of barge athena 106 , en route to a pile - driving location . athena construction did not require its crew to tie mooring spuds ( two steel pillars extending through wells in the bottom of the boats and unused for mooring ) securely in operation on its barges and unfortunately this had not been achieved . during the event , the tail spud on the hermes 106 moved from its fully up berth . the biff descended into the water and struck a submerged , low - pressure natural gas pipeline . the subsequent gas released ignited and created a fireballs that engulfed the towing vessel and both barges . the master of the towing vessel and four barge workers were lost . the lady megan deckhand and one barge man survived . one barge owner is specifically listed as missing .
NTSB is responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States.