Evacuations have been ordered early Thursday morning in southwest Minnesota after a prepare carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed, catching hearth, authorities stated.
A BNSF freight prepare derailed close to Raymond, about 100 miles west of Minneapolis, round 1 a.m. Roughly 22 vehicles got here off the tracks and 4 caught hearth, the corporate stated in a press release.
“There are not any different hazardous supplies on the prepare and no accidents on account of the incident,” stated Lena Kent, BNSF’s basic director of public affairs. The reason for the derailment was not instantly clear and is underneath investigation, she stated.
Evacuations have been ordered inside half a mile of the crash web site, the Kandiyohi County sheriff’s workplace stated.
“Residents have been instructed to depart their properties and an emergency assortment web site for these with nowhere to go was established,” the sheriff’s division stated in a press release.
Aerial footage of the scene confirmed an enormous pileup of burning and smoldering prepare vehicles alongside the snow-covered tracks.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) stated he was touring to the crash web site after talking with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who in his own statement stated that federal authorities can be concerned within the investigation. This contains the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, which stated it was sending a workforce to the positioning.
“The state stands prepared to guard the well being and security of the neighborhood,” stated Walz in a statement posted to Twitter.
Prepare derailments have been within the nationwide highlight ever since final month’s fiery derailment in Ohio. That prepare was carrying hazardous chemical compounds, and the accident prompted an evacuation of the native space.
There are about 1,000 prepare derailments within the U.S. every year, in keeping with knowledge from the Federal Railroad Administration. BNSF, which runs a median of 1,200 trains per day in keeping with its web site, reported 279 derailments final yr.