Human remains have been discovered inside a car that crashed into a pipeline valve near Houston, Texas, causing a fire that has burned for four days, officials said.
The fire was substantially smaller on Thursday than when it broke out at the beginning of the week, allowing police to access the area around the pipeline, in Deer Park.
Investigators removed a white car that had crashed through a fence and into the valve.
Medical examiners were able to examine the car and recovered and removed human remains, Deer Park officials said in a statement.
“They will now begin working through their identification process, which will take some time. This has developed into a criminal investigation and will be actively ongoing,” they added.
The underground pipeline runs beneath high-voltage power cables between a Walmart store and a residential neighbourhood in the area.
Officials said they believe the driver left the shop’s car park, then entered a wide grassy area and smashed through the fence surrounding the valve.
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While authorities were unable to say what caused the crash, they said they expected the fire to be extinguished late on Thursday.
Earlier this week, amid the worst of the fire, almost 1,000 homes were evacuated and students in a nearby school were ordered to shelter.
Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based company that owns the pipeline, previously called the incident an accident.
A preliminary investigation by police and FBI agents found no evidence of a terrorist attack, Deer Park officials added.
The pipeline is a 50cm (20in) wide natural gas line through Deer Park and nearby La Porte.
On Wednesday evening, officials began letting residents back into their homes but a portion of a road near the pipeline valve remained closed.
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Natural gas was shut off from the pipeline, but the fire kept burning due to the amount of gas already in the main.
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Despite the huge tower of billowing flames which shot hundreds of feet into the air when the fire first began, creating thick black smoke, officials said air quality monitoring showed no risk to people.
