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| Police seek clues in oil rig blast | |
| 2005-09-20 | |
| INDEPENDENCE - A drilling rig explosion that killed two workers and injured a third might not have been an accident, authorities said Monday. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the Kansas State Fire Marshal's office and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. The June 2 explosion killed Michael W. Holland, 29, of Altoona, and William M. Sanborn, 29, of Burlington. They were drilling for coalbed methane gas. Authorities first thought the southeast Kansas explosion was an accident, but on Monday they said evidence of possible criminal activity has since been discovered. Paul Marquardt, an ATF spokesman in Kansas City, Mo., declined to discuss the evidence in detail.
The rig belonged to McPherson Drilling of Cherryvale. Shortly after the explosion, one of the owners of the company noted the unusual nature of the blast. "You could tell the way the pipe blew that something inside the pipe blew out instead of up," Nancy McPherson said on the day of the explosion. "My husband says he has never seen anything like this before." | |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |