Americas

Train wreck: U.S. derailment causes fiery scene

The derailment Monday afternoon — the CSX train was carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil — pushed at least one tanker into a river, ignited at least 14 tankers in all, and sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky, officials and residents said. Part of the derailed train slammed into a house. Hundreds of families have been evacuated and authorities shut down two water treatment plants threatened by oil seeping into the river. Fires were still burning nearly nine hours after the accident. One injury has been reported: a case of smoke inhalation.

It was a little scary. It was like an atomic bomb went off. David McClung, who said he felt the heat from one of the explosions at his home about a half mile away

The crash occurred amid a winter storm, with as much as 5 inches of snow in some nearby places. It’s not clear if the weather had anything to do with the derailment, officials said. Responding to a series of fiery train crashes, including one this spring in Lynchburg, Va., the U.S. government proposed rules in July that would phase out tens of thousands of older tank cars that carry increasing quantities of crude oil and other highly flammable liquids. It’s not clear how old the tankers were on the derailed train.