NTSB documents offer insight but no cause for Silver Spring building explosion that killed 7
Federal investigators said they found a disconnected vent pipe in the basement room where natural gas built up before a lethal explosion last year at a Silver Spring apartment complex . They have not determined when the pipe was disconnected, why or who did it, but the disconnect would have bypassed a safety feature meant to vent gas from the basement room of the building to the exterior, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in a preliminary report on the Aug. 10, 2016, explosion that killed seven people, injured more than 30 and left more than 100 homeless. “The person who disconnected the vent pipe, as well as his/her intentions in doing so, are as of yet to be determined,” investigators wrote in a preliminary report that was made public Tuesday . ATF investigators, who are working with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of the incident, said that the cause of the explosion and fire that followed are undete...