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Two dead in Arkansas train crash involving toxic cargo Two dead in head-on train crash in Arkansas
(about 2 hours later)
Arkansas state police say two people have died and two are injured after two Union Pacific freight trains collided in north-east Arkansas. Two Union Pacific train crew members were killed and two others were injured when two freight trains collided head-on in north-east Arkansas early on Sunday, Arkansas state police said.
The Arkansas state police spokesman, Bill Sadler, said in a news release that authorities were called to the collision about 3am on Sunday near Hoxie. The collision happened about 3am in Hoxie, a small town about 90 miles (145km) north-west of Memphis Tennessee. A resulting fire took about seven hours to extinguish, according to a Union Pacific spokesman, Brandon Morris.
Sadler said railroad officials told police both trains were carrying toxic chemical cargo. A large number of Hoxie residents have been evacuated. Authorities asked about 500 people within 1½ miles of the collision to leave their homes following the crash because of the fire, the Lawrence County sheriff’s office said. Most were allowed to return home by mid-morning on Sunday, according to the county emergency management director, Buddy Williams.
The Arkansas department of emergency management spokesman, Kendell Snyder, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he did not know what the toxic substance was. He also said one engine was on fire and crews were trying to put it out. “The fire involved diesel and also there was a tank car that ruptured and it contained an [unknown] alcoholic beverage,” the Arkansas department of emergency management spokesman, Kendell Snyder, said. He said there were no other leaks.
Sadler said the dead and injured are believed to be train crew members. He told the newspaper that Union Pacific representatives will lead the investigation. “We don’t know the cause of the accident. We have no idea why these trains were on the same line,” Williams said, noting that no local residents were hurt.
It is at least the second head-on collision involving UP trains since 2012, when two collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle that June, killing three crew members and injuring a fourth.
The names of those killed and injured on Sunday were not immediately released by Union Pacific.
“We’re still conducting an investigation, we haven’t made any notifications,” Morris said. He did not know where the trains had originated or where they were headed. It was not immediately known how many cars the two trains were pulling, Morris said, but he said there were no other cars leaking any materials.
Morris said the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified and will take over the investigation.