Fire Accident at Natural Gas Mine Could Burn for Days

Moundsville, WVA massive fire accident at a natural gas well just outside of Moundsville, West Virginia will continue to burn for two to three days, according to local oil and gas officials.

The accident began early Monday morning when the gas well, which was being drilled through an abandoned coal mine, mysteriously exploded, injuring seven workers and sending a ball of fire a reported 75 feet into the air. All of those injured were taken to a Pittsburgh hospital, where two were released later that day. All are expected to recover.

State inspectors will have to wait out the blaze before determining a cause for the explosion, but have stressed that there is little concern that the fire will spread beyond the mine area.

Wild Well Control, a Texas-based security company that specializes in rig fires, will begin moving out damaged equipment and clearing the area so that security crews can safely approach the well and cap it.

"Our well control specialists have deemed the site secure," Kristi Gittens, a spokesperson for one of the companies assisting in the cleanup, told the Associated Press. "The pad site is contained and the rig is disabled. The well is still flaring, which is actually what you want to see happening. The plan is to extinguish the fire but it could take two to three days."