Search for missing three after pipeline blast

An aerial search resumed at dawn today for three people missing after a natural gas pipeline explosion that killed three others off the coast of Louisiana.

The blast occurred when a tugboat pushing two barges hit the pipeline yesterday about two miles from shore and 100 miles south-west of New Orleans, the coastguard said. A man on a nearby beach saw flames shooting into the sky and called authorities, said coastguard Petty Officer 2nd Class Nyx Cangemi.