Abstract: A power line crew working for an electric utility was using a boom truck equipped with an auger to dig a hole for a 12.2-meter-tall replacement utility pole. The auger struck an unmarked 19-millimeter-diameter natural gas line. The accident was immediately reported to the dispatcher for the gas utility owning the line, who sent an employee to the scene. The gas utility employee was laying on his stomach with his head in the 460-millimeter-diameter, 1.2-meter-deep hole, trying to squeeze the plastic gas line to close it and stop the leak. The employee was overcome after inhaling natural gas fumes. He died 4 days after the accident.