A train derailed in the northern United States early Thursday, March 30, and several of its wagons carrying ethanol caught fire, forcing the evacuation of residents, two months after a similar incident in Ohio, police said.
The tragedy was narrowly averted. A train, operated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railway company, derailed around 1 a.m. (6 a.m. GMT) in the town of Raymond, Minnesota. “Firefighters from Raymond and several surrounding towns responded to the scene where several of the derailed tank cars had caught fire,” Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson said in a statement. These wagons carried “one form of ethanol”, and others carried corn syrup.
No fatalities or injuries reported
According to the statement, an evacuation order has also been issued for people residing within 800 meters of the derailment area, and travel to the town of Raymond is not recommended.
No deaths or injuries are to be deplored, according to the Minister of Transport Pete Buttigieg, who indicated in a tweet that he was following the situation “closely”. This accident comes two months after the derailment of another freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, which caused a huge fire and the evacuation of hundreds of people.
This train was carrying, among other things, vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic and highly flammable chemical product used in the manufacture of plastic.
The reaction of the authorities, who had carried out “controlled” releases of vinyl chloride to avoid a possible explosion, releasing toxic fumes, had been widely criticized, the inhabitants reporting suffering from nausea and headaches in particular. An investigation is still ongoing.
Derailments are common in the United States, where 1,164 trains derailed in 2022, or 3 per day, according to rail services.
