Two workers on a dive service vessel suffered minor injuries Wednesday night when a 10” natural gas pipeline ruptured and caught fire 25 miles south of Marsh Island, La., according to the Coast Guard.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans got news of the fire around 8:30 p.m., and called for the launch of an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from the Aviation Training Center at Mobile, Ala., to investigate the scene in the Gulf of Mexico off Vermillion Bay.
The 135’x34’x12’ Ms. Kerci, operated by offshore diving services company C-Dive, Houma, La., was working on the pipeline, owned by Gulf South Pipeline Co., when the rupture happened. Two crewmen were escorted back to Houma to be treated for injuries, the Coast Guard said.
Those injuries were minor, according to Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, Houston, the parent company of Gulf South. The fire was extinguished overnight and Gulf South dispatched another vessel and crew to make repairs. The cause of the accident is under investigation, the Coast Guard said. The company said the pipeline shutdown is not affecting its customers.
