Gas-line blast injures 2 in Kentucky

Associated Press

KNIFLEY, Ky.

An underground transmission pipeline carrying natural gas exploded early Thursday in southern Kentucky, sending two people to the hospital, destroying two homes and alarming residents who saw flames from miles away.

The explosion happened about 2 a.m. in a hillside about 100 feet off the road and left a crater 60 feet wide, Adair County Emergency Management Director Greg Thomas said.

People said they “saw the fire in the sky,” Thomas said.

Both of the injured people were treated and released, Kentucky Emergency Management spokesman Buddy Rogers said. The two were in the same home when they were hurt, though only one suffered burns, Thomas said.

A third home was damaged along with four or five vehicles.

About 20 homes within a few miles of the blast site were evacuated, Thomas said. The flames were extinguished by late morning, and residents were allowed back into their homes in the afternoon, he said.

The explosion occurred in the community of Knifley, about 100 miles south of Louisville near the Green River Lake Wildlife Management Area.

The 30-inch pipeline, which was about 20 feet underground, is owned by Columbia Gulf Transmission.