Pipeline Accident Report-Philadelphia Gas Works Natural Gas Pipeline Rupture, Explosion, and Fire, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1979

摘要

At 3:05 p.m., e.s.t., on May 11, 1979, two almost simultaneous explosions and an ensuing fire destroyed three buildings near the intersection of Tacony and Margaret Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Seven persons, including a Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) employee, were killed, 19 persons were injured, and several adjacent rowhouses were damaged. The explosion also caused a section of Margaret Street to cave in, exposing a large cavern under the paved surface. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the sagging and breaking of an 8-inch, cast-iron gas main, due to the undetected erosion of the soil support under it, resulting in the migration of leaking gas into adjacent buildings where it was ignited by an undetermined source.