Chemical Leak from Train Wreck in South Carolina

AP - The State ^ | January 6, 2005

[Peach]

AP Photo/Aiken Standard, Michael Gibbons Hazardous material workers head to the scene where two Norfolk Southern freight trains collided early Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005, in Grantville, spilling a hazardous chemical and sending dozens of people to a decontamination site in Aiken. More photos...

One dead, 70 treated after chemical spill that followed train crash

AMY GEIER EDGAR

Associated Press

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. - Aiken County officials have confirmed one person has died and at least 70 were injured when two trains crashed here Thursday morning and spilled a hazardous chemical.

Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank did not give details of who was killed or how they died. He said 70 people have been treated at Aiken Regional Medical Center. All but about 20 were released; some were admitted to intensive care units, Frank said.

A Norfolk Southern freight train with two locomotives and 42 rail cars struck a locomotive with two rail cars parked at a siding at Avondale Mills, said railroad spokesman Robin Chapman.

Chapman said three cars on the moving train were carrying chlorine and there was a release of the gas. He did not know where the train was going.

Two crew members on that train were taken to a hospital after inhaling chlorine. No one was aboard the parked train, Chapman said.

One of the loose cars struck a tree, knocked it onto a car and trapped a woman inside for about two hours, Frank said. The woman was removed and taken to a hospital for treatment. Her condition was unavailable.

National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi said the agency will investigate the accident. A team of investigators was set to leave Washington around noon.

There were at least three hazardous chemicals on the train, Berry said, but officials were most concerned about the chlorine gas, which affects respiratory and central nervous systems. It can damage the throat, nose, eyes and can cause death. Berry said the gas has a strong odor and is heavier than air so it stays close to the ground.

Frank said emergency workers had found Graniteville residents walking outdoors and warned them to stay inside. Temperatures in the area were well above average with overnight lows in the 50s and highs in the mid-70s Thursday, so residents were told to close their doors and windows and shut off air-conditioning or heating systems.

Light winds Thursday afternoon could spread the chlorine to areas beyond the crash site but also could help lessen the danger by dissipating the gas, Berry said.

The National Weather Service recommended that people within a two-mile radius of the crash site stay indoors and keep their air-ventilation systems off.

Douglas Brown, 44, lives two streets away from the railroad tracks. He said he heard a boom that shook his house and heard the sound of metal dragging about 2:30 a.m.

Brown got in his car and drove to the site of the crash. He said he saw a fog over the ground.

"You could smell it real good, it made your tongue numb, your throat get sore and your eyes get dry," Brown said.

Deputies sent him to the University of South Carolina-Aiken campus to be decontaminated. Brown said his wife and two children were at home but were not asked to leave.

Officials did not know how many people had been decontaminated at USC-Aiken and Midland Valley High School.

At the university, two tents were set up. In one tent, people exposed to the chemicals removed their clothes and were washed down. They then moved to a second tent where they were given medical attention. Some were sent to the hospital.

[Peach]

There will be a curfew in Graniteville tonight - from dusk to dawn. A state of emergency in our county.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I had an opportunity to work for CSX, but after checking them out decided that there was no way I'd ever work there. Horrible safety record and deferred maintenance, and it seemed to be a conscious choice from up top. Only got worse while John Snow ran the company, can't believe Bush appointed him to anything.

In contrast NS was just the opposite when it came to their track, and even improved our track at Conrail, which was already pretty darn good on the mains I worked (though in labor relations and operations we were expecting revenge for Sherman's to march to the sea when the NS boys came up to take over!)

[AnAmericanMother]

Great! </sarcasm> Their Atlanta-Chattanooga main line runs right behind our house!

[Peach]

Over 90 gallons of chlorine are leaking from the train. The entire county of Aiken is under a state of emergency. This is the largest county in South Carolina.

The Governor will be visiting the area some time today.

[prairiebreeze]

bump

[Peach]

And that should have said 90 tons of chlorine, not gallons.

[all4one]

Karl Stiefel, center, helps his family, from left son, Alex, Christopher and wife Lisa holds daughter Karlee after going through the decontamination process at USC Aiken Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005, in Aiken, S.C. The Stiefel family was evacuated from Graniteville, S.C. after being exposed to chlorine gas from a train derailment. A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying chlorine gas struck a parked train early Thursday, killing one person and injuring at least 70, authorities said. Decontamination sites were treating people exposed to fumes. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Wow, ya'll must be heavy sleepers! One of the most amazing things to me was seeing how many houses were right up against the railroad tracks, especially those near the road crossings where the trains blow their horns.

[Peach]

Thanks for those pictures. I heard the reporter say they had pictures going out to the newspaper via e-mail.

[Peach]

Are you in SC?

I'm in Aiken.

[Peach]

Chlorine turns to gas when it gets into the open air.

90 tons of chlorine are leaking right now.

Responders going door to door in Graniteville looking for victims.

Air quality tests being done in county.

[all4one]

No....I am way up north in Delaware! But there are a great deal of train tracks in this general area of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania. So these accidents tend to pique my interest. I also think that there is not enough being done to secure our rail systems.

[AnAmericanMother]

What's even funnier is that there is a grade crossing a block and a half from our house, and the southbound traffic pulls for the blowpost right outside our bedroom window . . . and we don't even wake up for that.

You get acclimated pretty quickly. The first two weeks in this house every train woke us up. Now if there's NOT a train some time during the night, I wake up because I miss it.

The dog doesn't even lift her head, unless she's outside in the yard, then she howls along with the horn . . . she didn't know how to howl at first, the other dogs in the neighborhood taught her . . .

[engrpat]

I remember several accidents like this, in dark territory, where maintenance of way would work on a switch and leave it lined for the siding. The engineer has no clue until it is too late. Could well be employee error. Regardless of cause something like this is hard on the whole railroad family.

[AnAmericanMother]

Are you posting in your SCUBA mask?

[Peach]

There is a no fly zone five miles around the crash site. They don't know what it will take to clear up the site and expect more fatalities as they conduct house to house searches.

[Peach]

I've been lying down with a cold compress over my eyes. I don't think I can tell you if I had a scuba mask on...I'd never live it down :-)

A five mile no fly zone has been established and house to house searches are going on looking for victims and making sure that people stay inside if they are able to do so.

[Peach]

Is that Lloyd Bridges in that pic?

[AnAmericanMother]

Sure is!

First TV show I remember watching! (we didn't have a TV when I was little, and viewing opportunities were few and far between.) Probably that show is what inspired me to get my Open Water cert . . .

[Peach]

He was a good looking young man.

Amazing what motivates us :-)

Portions of Graniteville are getting better with air quality and now emergency workers are able to go into homes and get people out of there. Other portions still not safe even for the workers to go into.

Watching the wind and checking air quality in Aiken and way out into the Highway 20 area where they can smell the chlorine.