Fort Worth Man Among 5 Killed in Oklahoma Gas Rig Explosion

OKLAHOMA CITY — Officials on Tuesday recovered the remains of five gas rig workers who had been missing since a fiery explosion in eastern Oklahoma a day earlier.Pittsburg County Sheriff Chris Morris said once the natural gas drilling rig was stabilized following the blast and subsequent fires, employees from the state medical examiner's office went into the wreckage and recovered the bodies in about two hours. "The bodies were located in the area where they were presumed to be working in, what they call the 'dog house,"' Morris said, referring to a room on the rig floor that generally serves as an office for the drilling crew. He said state and federal investigators will work with the companies involved to determine how Monday's blast occurred. An initial incident report into the explosion indicates there was an uncontrolled release of gas that caught fire and that a worker at the scene tried unsuccessfully to shut down the well. The report, released Tuesday by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas operations in the state, is just an initial assessment, said agency spokesman Matt Skinner. "The investigation is ongoing, and there will undoubtedly be more added to the report," Skinner said. The workers who were killed include three from Oklahoma -- Matt Smith of McAlester, Parker Waldridge of Crescent and Roger Cunningham from Seminole -- and two from other states, Josh Ray of Fort Worth, Texas; and Cody Risk of Wellington, Colorado.   Continue reading...