KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced Wednesday that her office has launched an investigation into whether public utility companies and underground facility owners are complying with the Missouri Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act.

The announcement comes in the wake of a deadly home explosion in Lexington, Missouri, that happened in April.

The explosion was caused after a subcontractor drilling for fiber‐optic cable struck an unmarked underground natural-gas main, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). That explosion destroyed one home, damaged two others, killed a 5-year-old child and injured two others.

Under Missouri law, underground facility owners must accurately locate and mark buried infrastructure with

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