The US Chemical Safety Board have confirmed that they are deliberating on launching a larger investigation into the explosion which killed five at an Oklahoma drilling rig near Quinton.
The Department for Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched its own investigation of the blast, which took place on Monday.
Ordinarily, the US Chemical Safety Board only investigates much larger disasters or where a larger number of fatalities have occurred.
Hillary Cohen, CSB spokeswoman, said: “The CSB has sent two investigators to gather additional information in order to determine if the CSB will be pursuing a full investigation.”
Three of the five killed have been identified as Patterson-UTI employees, including one Texan.
The victims are Josh Ray, of Fort Worth; Cody Risk, of Wellington, Colorado; and Matt Smith, Parker Waldridge and Roger Cunningham, all of Oklahoma.
Ray, Smith and Risk were Patterson-UTI employees.
Houston’s Patterson-UTI currently has 25 drilling rigs in operation within Oklahoma, second in the US to Texas’ 60 active rigs.
Monday’s rig explosion is the deadliest since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.