CHEMICAL SPILL: CAUSE OF TRAIN DERAILMENT NORTH OF NEELYS LANDING UNDER INVESTIGATION

NEELYS LANDING -- A Burlington Northern merchandise train, heading from Galesburg, Ill. to Memphis, Tenn., derailed in northeastern Cape Girardeau County Tuesday, sending two cars into the Mississippi River and spreading chemicals in the river and on its banks.

Twenty-four of the train's 86 cars went off the track in the sparsely populated area about a mile south of the Cape Girardeau-Perry County line. No one was hurt.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known and remains under investigation.

Burlington Northern spokesman Jerry Jenkins said four of the 24 derailed cars contained hazardous materials, but that none of the four was leaking and none posed an immediate danger.

A fifth car, which contained titanium dioxide, was punctured during the derailment, scattering the material across the tracks and into the Mississippi River. Titanium dioxide -- a white, powdery substance used as a pigment for paints, paper, inks, food and cosmetics -- is not considered hazardous, Jenkins said.

Still, emergency personnel from the Fruitland Fire Department and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources treated the spill as a hazard and approached the site in chemical-resistant protective gear.

Several of the cars that derailed came within a few feet of landing in the river. Only two were confirmed to have gone in the water, a spokesman for the United States Coast Guard said Tuesday evening.

Petty Officer Jack Smalley said the Coast Guard in Keokuk, Iowa was informed of the derailment shortly after noon Tuesday by a tugboat operator who reported seeing the derailment and two cars in the river.

A subsequent investigation by the Coast Guard marine safety office in St. Louis revealed that one of the cars in the water contained pentene, a flammable fuel. Though the tanker was halfway in the water, it was not leaking fuel and did not pose an immediate hazard, Smalley said.

The Coast Guard office in Iowa did not shut down traffic on the river, even though initially requested to do so by the St. Louis marine safety office. But since the material in the river was not toxic and the fuel did not leak into the river, the Coast Guard determined that it was not necessary to halt river traffic.

"There was not a hazard for traffic on the river," Smalley said.

He added that water intakes from the river were shut down.

Currently the Coast Guard is investigating the scene to determine the extent of the damage and what, if any, hazards exist. They are also trying to determine who is responsible for the spill and for its cleanup.

The immediate concern, Smalley said, was removing the railroad cars from the river without any other material leaking into the water. Of special concern is the tanker car containing pentene.

"There's no telling what kind of damage the tanker sustained during the derailment," Smalley said.

He also said that extricating the partly submerged tanker from the river poses potential danger of leaking pentene. The Coast Guard planned to bring in a barge to help remove the tanker.

Jenkins said Burlington Northern anticipated the cleanup would continue into this morning. The track, he said, is expected to reopen on Thursday. Until that time, rail traffic is being rerouted, Jenkins said.