Mexico family loses home in pipeline explosion

A Mexico family lost the home they were building in the Sunday natural gas pipeline explosion in Audrain County.

The explosion occurred about 50 to 75 yards from Highway 15 about a mile north of Mexico jsut south of the Davis Creek bridge. The road remained closed Monday and was expected to open somtime Tuesday, the Audrain County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office continued to block access to the explosion site Monday. The office said the road closure was likely because of extreme heat. The Missouri Department of Transportation referred questions about the reason for the road closure to the pipeline company.

The pipeline is owned by the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co., which has an office in Centralia. An investigator was sent to the scene of the explosion, a federal agency said Monday.

A spokesperson for Energy Transfer, the Texas-based company that owns Panhandle Eastern, said the company would send a statement to ABC 17 News.

The Audrain County Sheriff’s Office said no one was injured in the explosion, but one property under construction was destroyed. That property turned out to be a home Matthew Penn and his wife were building.

“Like all Mexico, MO residents we were awoken early Sunday morning to a horrifying event,” the family said in a written statement. “As things began to settle down, we realized that the home we were constructing along Hwy 15 had been completely destroyed by the explosion, fire and heat from a nearby pipeline. We do not know any details regarding a cause or the investigation.”

“We do know this with near certainty – had we been living in our new home, we would no longer be alive. That realization shook us to the core.”