2 WORKERS DIE IN NATURAL-GAS EXPLOSION.

Byline: Chip Brown Associated Press

A 40-foot fireball throwing off 1,000-degree heat raged from a natural-gas well Sunday after an explosion, stymieing efforts to recover the bodies of two workers who died in the blast.

Three deadly explosions rocked the rig 65 miles southeast of Austin on Saturday night, sending up a fireball that illuminated the blackened sky like a rising sun and whose glow could be seen from 20 miles away.

``It'll probably take a week to get this fire out,'' said Pat Campbell, vice president of Joe Bowden's Wild Well Control Inc.

The names of the victims, both men, were being withheld until all attempts to recover the bodies had been exhausted. No other injuries were reported.

Firefighters kept a steady flow of water on two 8,000-gallon tanks of diesel fuel nearby to prevent another explosion.

The rig is owned by WCS Oil & Gas Inc. of Dallas. The cause of the blast was still undetermined Sunday, said Danny Anderson, WCS' on-site manager. ``We probably won't have any answers until we get in there and start moving some of the wreckage,'' he said.

Three firefighters suffered minor burns trying to get close enough to pull out one of the bodies.

``The body we saw was burned beyond recognition,'' said Spencer Schneider of the 26-member volunteer fire department from nearby Giddings. ``From the looks of the mangled wreckage, he never knew what hit him.''

Schneider said the body of the second worker hadn't been spotted.

The initial blast happened about 7:15 p.m., 15 minutes after workers underwent a shift change, and was followed by two more explosions, witnesses said. The two victims were out on the platform of the rig at the time of the first explosion, according to the witnesses.

A crew of other workers was able to escape without injury, Deputy Sheriff Adam Gonzales said. He did not say how many workers escaped.

Gonzales said police would talk to survivors and conduct a full investigation after the bodies are recovered and the fire is under control.

Specialists from the well control company arrived on the scene about 2 a.m. Sunday and dug a water-filled moat aimed at keeping the fire from spreading.

Later, they used cranes with long hooks and bulldozers to clear mangled metal from the area. The well is about 8,700 feet deep, Anderson said. He declined to speculate how much natural gas was being released.