LEXINGTON, Mo. — The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary investigation Monday into the deadly gas line explosion in Lexington, Missouri.
The April 9 explosion killed 5-year-old Alistair Lamb and injured his 10-year-old sister Cami and their custodial father, Jacob Cunningham.
LINK | 'It's a long road ahead': Lexington remembers boy killed, family members injured in explosion
Monday’s report focused on outlining the facts and circumstances around the explosion. The NTSB will follow up with a more comprehensive report detailing any changes or recommendations. That report can take several months.
Monday’s report did establish the official timeline of events, which started at 4:14 p.m. when workers with Alfra Communication called 811 to report damage to a gas line near 18th Street and Franklin Avenue. Alfra was installing a fiber optic line for Sellenriek Construction at the time the gas line — operated by Liberty Utilities — was struck.
But some issues that led up to the gas line being struck and actions taken afterwards were identified. The report claims the gas company, Liberty Utilities, did not properly mark an area where the gas line was hit. It also states emergency personnel crews did not notify neighbors or residents despite being on scene for three hours.
Emergency crews only evacuated the funeral home on the block, a business 15 feet away from the leak, but notified no one else before the explosion around 7:42 p.m.
KSHB 41 News sat down with Cathie Woods, the mother of Jacob Cunningham and grandmother to Cami and Alistair, a few days after the explosion.
"It's not just one person or one company, I think there's a lot of system failure in place," Woods said. "I don't think that everybody that was involved with that did their due diligence."
Cunningham and his 10-year-old daughter Cami are now recovering from the unimaginable loss. Their home on Franklin Avenue is gone, and five-year-old Alistair was taken too soon.
"[Jacob] will be in pain for the rest of his life," Wood said during the April 11 interview. "Not only physically, but emotionally from losing his son in this tragic accident."
According to the NTSB, Liberty Utilities marked its underground gas lines two days before Alfra Construction contractors started digging. However, crews did not identify or mark an uncapped gas main line. That's the area where contractors hit the gas line on April 9th.
Missouri 811's executive director explained he still has questions regarding what a failed marking means and if a stub line impacted the line's location.
"When we find out the answers to those questions, that will bring a lot more clarity to this," Randy Norden said. "That's when we'll find out the likelihood of if this could have been prevented."
The Lexington Fire Department arrived on scene around 4:20 p.m., shortly after the gas line was hit. Crews tried to squeeze off the leaking line, but gas was still flowing.
"[The report] did not mention how the gas got into the house," Norden said. "That's another big, unanswered question."
The NTSB will now be working with Missouri 811 to look into Liberty Utility's previous 811 records.
"The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation is ongoing," investigators wrote in the report. "Future investigative activity will focus on Liberty Utilities' responses to 811 requests, leak and repair history, emergency response and isolation procedures, record keeping, pipeline safety management system, operator qualifications, and public awareness program; state safety oversight; and local emergency response and evacuation procedures."
LINK | An in-depth look at records before Lexington, Missouri, fatal home explosion
KSHB 41's I-Team also obtained the fire department's incident report through a Missouri Sunshine Open Records Request.
In that report, it states the fire department and Liberty Utilities detected gas levels at 4% inside the funeral home garage two hours before the explosion happened. You can read that report at this link.
Less than two weeks after the deadly explosion, Cunningham filed a wrongful death lawsuit against four companies involved in the explosion.
A spokesperson with Liberty Utilities provided KSHB 41 News the following statement.
"The NTSB has asked Liberty to be a “Party” to its investigation. Parties to NTSB investigations are severely limited by federal regulation about what they can disclose publicly. Because of that, Liberty is unable to provide any information beyond what the NTSB has provided in the Preliminary Report. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the affected families whose lives have been devastated by this terrible tragedy. We will continue to do our part to help those affected and support broader recovery efforts."
The City of Lexington stated they could not comment on an active investigation. Alfra Construction did not respond to our multiple requests for comment.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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