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ATTLEBORO - A company drilling environmental monitoring wells hit a water pipe in O'Neil Boulevard Tuesday morning, cutting service to a factory and shutting down part of the road for about eight hours.

The incident occurred about 10 a.m., when Technical Drilling Services of Sterling hit a 6-inch pipe going into Marathon Co., a jewelry firm at 90 O'Neil Blvd.

Officials closed O'Neil Boulevard between Pearl and School streets.

Technical was drilling the well as part of an ongoing environmental analysis of the former Swank Co. property across the street.

The former jewelry factory is being taken over by Cookson Precious Metals in a major deal brokered last year by the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority. Case Inc. was called in to repair the pipe. Dave Gallagher, a project manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Dig Safe was contacted prior to the drilling.

Attleboro Water Department working foreman Jerry Haines said the break was an accident.

"It was a freak thing," he said. "It was nobody's fault."

Officials at Marathon had no comment. The company remained open despite a lack of water, and portable toilets were brought in for employees.

GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.