The death toll has climbed to seven following the rupture of a natural gas distribution pipeline outside of a small strip mall in Toronto last Thursday, according to the Toronto Fire Marshal’s Office.

A construction crew involved in road repair allegedly struck a high-pressure line believed to be owned by Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. with a backhoe at around 2 p.m. last Thursday, triggering a blast that “pretty well blew the entire building” that housed four businesses — a hairdresser, pizzeria, dry cleaners and wine store, said Tony Pacheco, executive assistant to the fire marshal.

Neither Pacheco nor Enbridge would confirm for the record that the line belonged to Enbridge.

Seven bodies have been removed from the scene, while four persons received minor injuries, Pacheco told NGI. Investigators still were at the blast site Monday trying to determine the official cause of the deadly incident.

Captain Don Marsden of the Toronto Fire Service reported that gas-related leaks and mishaps accounted for a very small percentage — 0.05% — of the total incidents investigated by the department.

Enbridge spokeswoman Lisa McCarney declined to comment on the explosion, but she said her company was cooperating fully with fire investigators. “Our sympathies and thoughts are with the families and friends of [the victims of] this tragedy.”

Enbridge was one of a number of gas utilities that received awards from the American Gas Association (AGA) over the weekend for their “significant achievement” in the area of accident prevention in 2002.

Toronto-based Enbridge Gas Distribution, a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc., owns and operates Canada’s largest gas distribution company, providing service to about 1.6 million customers in Quebec and Ontario, as well as New York State. It distributes approximately 420 Bcf of gas per year.

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