QUINTON, Okla. — Officials say they have recovered the remains of five workers missing since an explosion at an Oklahoma gas drilling rig.
Pittsburg County Sheriff Chris Morris said Tuesday personnel from the state medical examiner’s office began searching for the workers about noon once the drilling site had been stabilized.
Pittsburg County sheriff: Bodies of all 5 missing workers located after gas well explosion https://t.co/YCy4xu5Cn3 pic.twitter.com/trdnsPIfe5
— KOKH FOX 25 (@OKCFOX) January 23, 2018
Morris says the bodies are being transported to Oklahoma City for identification.
The blast happened Monday morning at a drilling site near Quinton, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa. The explosion sent plumes of black smoke into the air and left a derrick crumpled on the ground.
Morris says the five employees who were killed were in an area of the drilling rig known as the “dog house” where the rig hands worked.
Three of the workers were employed by Houston-based Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. Company president and CEO Andy Hendricks pledged a full investigation into the explosion.
Emergency management officials said Monday night that the fire was extinguished. Authorities say 16 people who were on the site at the time of the blast escaped without major injuries. One person was airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
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