There is a law in the USA (and Canada) requiring
that you call for underground utility locations
before you do any excavation.

The pictures below are a result of a farmer using
a post hole digger without calling for "locates"
and he hit an underground, high-pressure cross
country gas pipe.

Had to be one of those gas powered augers, either free-standing or on a tractor.

Supposedly there was no trace of the farmer or his equipment...

It also took out 2 homes...
Take a look for yourself...















Thanks to GTcars for the pics

Dang I hope no one was in the houses

Wow!!!

Uhhh, WOW aint the word for it.

From the looks of it, it would appear that a few thousand cubic foot of gas had been on the ground prior to it being ignited?? How did the farmer not smell the gas? Or is the gas not treated yet?

Wow. Years ago I had a new phone cable brought in. The gas company came in and marked the gas line. They laid the cable. To bad the marked the gas line in the wrong place. They cut the gas line. I must say, I've never seen construction workers move so fast. The guy dropped the cable spool, spun around and ripped in the the ground. A few seconds later there was a huge hole. another guy jumped in the hole and clamped the gas line.

Sorry to "burst" the bubble...

Real explosion, real photos. Not how it happened though.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/gasmain.asp

Still scary though!

There would be no odor, Natural gas is odorless, and sulfurous "odor-ant" isn't added until it reaches the distrubutor.

From Wiki:

In any form, a minute amount of odorant such as t-butyl mercaptan, with a rotting-cabbage-like smell, is added to the otherwise colorless and almost odorless gas, so that leaks can be detected before a fire or explosion occurs. Sometimes a related compound, thiophane is used, with a rotten-egg smell. Adding odorant to natural gas began in the United States after the 1937 New London School explosion. The buildup of gas in the school went unnoticed, killing three hundred students and faculty when it ignited. Odorants are considered non-toxic in the extremely low concentrations occurring in natural gas delivered to the end user.

Can safely say that guy didn't feel anything

I've been to a Natural Gas blow up years ago.My Dad worked for Michigan Wisconsion Pipeline company. It took almost 1/4 mile of pipe out of the ground. It was split lenghth wise and wavy. Nobody was hurt but some trees and the field like the pictures above. This was back in the '70'*. Up around Mediapolis Ia.