A freight train derailed Wednesday in the east-central United States and sulfur it was carrying caught fire, prompting Kentucky authorities to advise residents to leave the site in the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday.
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On Wednesday afternoon, a freight train derailed near the village of Livingston, and “at least 16 cars are involved, including two containing liquid sulfur which opened and lost some of their contents, which are on fire” CSX, which operated the convoy, said in a statement.
“When liquid sulfur burns, it releases sulfur dioxide,” the company added, a pollutant dangerous to both human health and the environment.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a “state of emergency” on Wednesday evening in order to mobilize all necessary resources, he announced in a press release.
“The response to this accident is ongoing and local officials are encouraging residents of Livingston to evacuate” the area, the text adds.
CSX “encourages residents” who are “worried about their safety” to leave the area and settle in hotels paid for by the company about fifteen kilometers away.
This accident occurred the day before the widely followed American holiday of Thanksgiving, Thursday, a holiday when families gather around a traditional meal.
“I was panicked, we’re cooking, we have turkeys in the oven. We can’t leave,” Livingston resident Linda Todd, sheltering in a local gym, told a local CBS channel on Wednesday evening.
This accident comes after the derailment in March in Ohio of a train carrying chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic and highly flammable chemical used in the manufacture of plastic.
The huge fire and then the controlled releases of this substance, carried out by the railway authorities to avoid a possible explosion, led to some 2,000 evacuations and raised fears of serious environmental consequences.
