WESTMINSTER, Colo. -- Firefighters today hosed down the twisted, smoldering wreckage of two freight trains that collided head-on in a deafening explosion, killing five crewmen and collapsing a bridge carrying a major highway.

The crash occurred about 7:30 p.m. Friday beneath an overpass carrying U.S. 36, the main Denver-Boulder artery. Heat from the fire or the force of the collision buckled the bridge, and a State Patrol officer said that section of the highway would 'be shut down indefinitely.'


Bill Joplin, a Burlington Northern spokesman on the scene, confirmed five crew members died in the crash. He said three of the dead were in the engine of the northbound train and two were aboard the southbound train.

The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The cause of the collision was not known.

A witness said the crash and explosion sounded 'like an atomic bomb.'

'There was enormous heat and fire and smoke,' he said. 'It just absolutely covered the sky.'

Tony Yakish was playing tetherball in his yard with his daughters when the northbound and southbound trains plowed into each other.

'We heard the train whistle blow and all of a sudden cars were crumpling and a big ball of fire shot 400 yards into the air,' Yakish said. 'There was one heck of an explosion. We ran to the end of the field, but there was nothing we could do.'

There were no toxic chemicals aboard either train. But lubricating oil from one train caught fire, sending up plumes of dark smoke that could be seen in Fort Collins, 40 miles to the north, and forcing the brief evacuation of a few residents near the crash.

Fire officials said it would take most of the night to cool down the wreckage. Firefighters hosed down the crumpled cars.

Joplin said Burlington Northern had ordered a 'considerable amount of heavy equipment' to Denver from various locations, and cleanup operations would begin today.

'We do not know and we cannot speculate on the cause of the collision,' he said. 'There will be an intensive investigation, lasting several weeks and possibly months.'

Mike Wenninger, BN director of communications in Fort Worth, Texas, said the northbound train, pulled by three locomotives and carrying mixed freight, had just left Denver en route to Montana.

The southbound freight, pulled by two engines, consisted of 31 cars loaded with gravel and had left Longmont, 35 miles north of Denver, shortly before the crash.