While overall transportation-related fatalities rose slightly nationwide during 2001, deaths caused by pipeline explosions or other malfunctions fell significantly, according to preliminary figures released last Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The initial figures showed that 44,461 persons died in highway, aviation, rail, marine and pipeline accidents during 2001, up 0.6% from 44,196 in 2000, the NTSB said. Increased fatalities were seen in aviation and rail, while highway, marine and pipeline fatalities were down.

The NTSB reported there were seven pipeline-related deaths in 2001, down by more than five-fold from the 38 fatalities seen in 2000. All seven of the fatalities were caused by gas pipelines, the board said. But it noted this was a big improvement over 2000, during which 37 deaths occurred as a result of explosions or other problems on gas pipelines.

Nearly one-third of the fatalities that occurred in 2000 were the result of the blast on the El Paso Natural Gas South Mainline near Carlsbad, NM, in August of that year. Twelve members of an extended family were killed while camping and fishing on the banks of the Pecos River near El Paso’s Line 1103, which ruptured and exploded in the early hours of Aug. 19, causing the deadliest blast ever.

The NTSB still is investigating the cause of the explosion, and is expected to issue its final report later this year. In late June, the board released a series of factual reports that appeared to confirm federal investigators’ initial suspicions of internal corrosion as the cause, or one of the causes, of the accident (See NGI, June 24).

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