Three killed by fumes from train wreck

SAN ANTONIO -- The collision of two freight trains released a plume of toxic fumes that killed a conductor and two people who lived nearby, investigators said Tuesday. Two others were left critically ill.

A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived to determine the cause of the crash of the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains in a rural area southwest of San Antonio.

Lead investigator Jim Remines said a Union Pacific dispatcher had arranged to have the westbound UP train stop while the eastbound Burlington Northern train pulled off onto a siding.

"Somebody should have stopped and didn't," he said.