Train carrying hazardous materials derails in Southern Illinois

TAMAROA, Ill. -- A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the middle of town Sunday morning, and authorities evacuated as many as 1,000 people in a three-mile area.

Officials expected residents would be out of their homes until at least today, while cleanup crews worked to stabilize the chemicals and then right the derailed cars.

One resident taking shelter in a local community center said emergency workers told her it could be as many as three days before she and her family would be allowed to return home.

"There's nothing you can do about it, so it's not worth getting upset about," Elizabeth Stein said.

No injuries were reported after 16 cars of the northbound train derailed shortly after 9 a.m. in this town of 800 in southern Illinois about 28 miles north of Carbondale.

The derailment sparked a fire that was out by Sunday afternoon.

The Illinois Central-Canadian National train was carrying chemicals that included vinyl chloride, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid, Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said.

Could cause death

All three chemicals are hazardous to breathe and could cause death in high concentrations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many emergency workers were kept away from the trains because of the danger, Kellerman said.

The vinyl chloride leaked from one or two cars and caught fire, said Kellerman and Canadian National spokesman Jack Burke.

Tamaroa village trustee William Place said methanol also was being carried by the train and caught fire.

Air tests conducted upwind of the site indicated no air pollution caused by the derailment, said Chris Cahnovsky, an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency field worker.

Crews were checking for possible soil and groundwater contamination, said Dave Searby, operations officer for the DuQuoin Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.

"We don't know for sure how long it will be before people can return home," Searby said. He said state and local officials also were working on a plan to tend to pets who were left behind in the evacuation.

Nina Rich, 74, was at home when she heard the train derail.

"It sounded like a (automobile) wreck, but I didn't pay attention to it," she said.

The train, operated by a two-person crew, likely had 100 or more cars, Burke said. He said chemical-hauling trains typically roll north from Louisiana to Chicago or to a switching point in Effingham for movement elsewhere.

Each car carried 24,000 pounds of chemicals, Kellerman said.