A 14-year-old girl died tragically on Sunday when a storage tank exploded on an inactive well site in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana.
Louisiana Oil Tank Explosion Shook Homes Across Ragley
The February 28th explosion occurred just before 5:00 p.m. at a drilling site near Cordial Lane and South Cooley Road and was felt throughout the community of Ragley.
“The first thing I could see out of the front door of my house was a big cloud of boiling oil smoke and fire,” one Ragley resident told KATC News. “I was in my house, and I heard a big boom and a second boom, and then my house shook, and when my house shook, I was like, ‘What is that?’ Then I knew it was something big. Beings that I’ve been from here my entire life, I felt that it was these oil tanks.”
Multiple agencies responded to the blast, including firefighters from various departments, the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s Office, the Louisiana State Police Hazmat Unit, and the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
They found the 14-year-old Ragley girl dead at the scene.
Inactive Well Site Owned by Texas-Based Urban Oil & Gas
Although the well was inactive, Plano, Texas-based Urban Oil & Gas had apparently been storing highly flammable crude oil in tanks located there for a while. Three of those tanks were engulfed in flames within seconds of the blast.
“Something was introduced to actually ignite the product inside the tank,” Louisiana State Police Trooper Derek Senega told KPLC TV. “They don’t know exactly what the cause or what the item was that caused the explosion, but they do know something that ignited that.”
The tank fire was extinguished shortly after 6:00 p.m. According to authorities, the public was never in any danger.
“Urban Oil & Gas is deeply saddened by the event that happened in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana on the evening of February 28,” a spokesperson for Urban Oil & Gas wrote in an email to KPLC. “Our condolences go out to the family of the young lady that lost her life.”
The Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office, the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and Louisiana State Police HazMat are investigating the explosions.
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