A natural gas pipeline exploded about 50 miles south of Fort Worth in Cleburne on Monday, killing one and injuring several others. One man was found dead after the blast, and eight people were taken to local hospitals according to Bob Alford, the county sheriff. The man killed had been riding a truck drilling holes for utility poles when the line suddenly exploded. Other workers lost sight of him in the smoke, and hoped that he had driven himself to a hospital, as several of the others had done.

The AP reports that those injured are employees for a subcontractor hired by Waco-based Brazos Electric Cooperative and were replacing power-lines poles when they hit the pipeline. Authorities are trying to determine if the gas line had been marked before digging started.

As natural gas operations have expanded in Texas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, risks associated with the drilling have increased significantly. State regulators in these states have linked drilling to several cases of drinking-water contamination, and authorities in Texas have raised concerns about air emissions from facilities, reports the Wall Street Journal. Federal statistics show that there were 47 pipeline incidents last year that caused death or serious injury across the nation, up from 40 in 2008. The majority of these incidents involved the small gas distribution lines which carry the gas to homes and businesses.

Second Texas gas pipeline blast kills two
The Associated Press has reported that two more workers were killed in Texas as a result of a natural gas line explosion; just one day after another explosion in Cleburne killed one and injured others. The second blast, just outside Darrouzett which is in northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle, involved a crew that was removing caliche (a material used in cement) for a dirt-contracting company.

Two men were killed and three others injured when a bulldozer struck a pipeline. The blast occurred just miles from the border, and one of the injured men was taken by helicopter to a Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma.