LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – The NTSB said they are continuing to investigate the site of the gas pipeline explosion in Lincoln County.
The 62-year-old pipe ruptured just after midnight on Thursday morning in Hustonville, Ky.
Fifty-eight-year-old Lisa Derringer died in this explosion and in total, 14 homes were damaged, and five others were destroyed.
The NTSB has three investigators on the scene working to make sure the scene is safe and figure out what happened. It is expected the team will be at the scene for at least a week.
Officials said they would not speculate on what caused the rupture that led to the explosion and will not be making that determination at the scene in Lincoln County. At this time investigators do not believe there was any criminal intent involved in the explosion.
Officials say they will likely remove part of the pipe and take it to Washington, D.C. for further investigation.
Part of the NTSB’s investigation will be looking at the integrity of two other pipelines that are in the vicinity of the one that exploded on Thursday.
Mike Hiller, with NTSB, estimated the investigation into this could last anywhere from 12-18 months.
Hiller also said they expect to let residents access the area of the explosion to get their property on Saturday morning or afternoon.
The NTSB asks the public to come forward with any surveillance video they may have of the explosion to help in their investigation. That can be sent to witness@ntsb.gov.
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