Two Louisiana men were killed Wednesday morning in a work boat explosion at the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area in Port Arthur, Texas, according to The Advocate.
A third man was seriously injured, according to Port Arthur area officials.
Joseph L. Guillory, Jefferson County Precinct Two Justice of the Peace, told reporters that the two men who died were a 45-year-old from Abbeville, reportedly the boat captain, and a 41-year-old from Houma, according to Channel 6 in Beaumont.
Read more from The Advocate here.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, the case was being handled by the U.S. Coast Guard. Earlier Wednesday, Texas Game Warden Capt. Ryan Hall said a commercial vessel was docked in the JD Murphree Wildlife Management Area. The vessel, registered in Louisiana, was working on a levee project at the WMA through a partnership between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Ducks Unlimited, a statement indicates.
The vessel had just refueled and exploded, he said. The cause is still under investigation. Three crew members were on the vessel at the time; all three were transported to the hospital, where two of them died and a third is still being treated.
As is usual in Texas, a Justice of the Peace came out to perform and inquest and order autopsies. We've reached out to Guillory's office to try to get more information about the incident, and we've put in a call to the Coast Guard.
There was no damage to the wildlife management area, and it remains open to the public, officials say.
