Posted on 01/06/2005 8:37:59 AM PST by 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.
What a mess. Good luck - stay as high above ground as possible! Cl2, and most hazardous vapors, are heavier than air.
Thanks; we're just staying indoors and watching the news which in our area is 24/7 on this story.
Are you sure the governor's plane actually flew within the no-fly zone? One doesn't have to get very far up to see a long way, and it was only a 5-mile radius, correct?
That's a good point. Maybe he didn't fly within the five mile radius. Do you think he could see a dead body and animals from five miles away though? I don't know.
They are saying the air quality tests show it is safe in the crash site area to leave the house, get in a car and drive away. Mandatory evacuation.
I haven't heard about our specific area; we're five miles away, but assuming it's not bad or we'd have heard.
I understood your ping to mean the AP reporter had done a lousy job writing up this story...which he has. The lead is buried, the narrative is muddy, and the essential information is sprinkled throughout, rather than being at the top.
An ongoing chemical spill crisis should not be written up as a feature, it should be in the inverted pyramid style of a hard news story.
In short, the story as written is crap. The events which the story covers are gravely serious and deserve better handling.
Oh. I see. So dhuff’s comment that “[a]ll chemicals are hazardous to the crAP,” and your “crAP” graphic, were just comments on the lousiness of the AP as a news source. Except, of course, in this instance, where they were a reliable news source. And the link by Petronski to a spoof web site about the alleged dangers of H2O was, um, well, also a comment on the lousiness of the AP as a news source. Except, of course, in this instance, where they were a reliable news source.
All clear.
It can also be stored in much larger containers for bulk transport; without knowing the exact nature of the container leaking, it is difficult to determine the potential for spillage and contamination.
Sunlight breaks it down rapidly, but a spill at night could spread low along the ground for a great distance depending on wind conditions and topography.
The story was reliable. It was also poorly written.
The lead in this story is NOT the deaths and injuries. The lead, as you can well appreciate, is the ongoing crisis and lockdown and potential for further injury.
Also saw info that the flight restriction is only to a height of 3,000 feet so commercial avaition is not affected.
Sadly, the story also says they expect the death toll to rise.
Info is from a story on the nbc6 news site in Charlotte. I'll include a link but registration is required to read the full story.
Two dead, 180 treated after chemical spill that followed train crash
They were hoping it would get sunny today to burn it off but it didn't happen...just a few glimpses of the sun.
The NTSB person who is hear said she'd never seen such a bad wreck. The air is much heavier here at night and by 6:00 there is a curfew.
I'm not always cranky either. Long day.
;O)
Be very careful to stay safe, dear heart. Keep posting so that we'll know how you are. If you do need to evacuate, please let us know ASAP.
Well I see that you've resolved your question without assistance from me.
D'ja see my dot.sig, a. k. a. 'tag line'?
Thanks, Carolinamom. IF we need to leave, I'll post something here before we go or from wherever we land.
No one is talking evacuation for our specific area and I think we'll be fine. Nearly all of downtown was closed and so many roads are blocked; we're just glad we can stay here.
(((Carolinamom)))
Once again, you get it wrong. It was ME who posted the lonk to the DHMO.org website.
You may well think the AP has great writers, but that is more a statement on YOU than anything. They know little about chemicals, Not to lessen the severity of this event. Yes, Cl2 isn't so nice. I get that, but their writers are typycally ignorant and hysterical.
Disagree? Prove me wrong, and this article is certainly not a good starting point.
Just as a little background, While running a 130 million railroad construction project, one of my duties was to reports all spillages, including water if in excess of 1 gallon. I facetiously reported when a guy dumped out the rainwater from his 5-gallon tool pail he had inadvertantly left out over a weekend. The newspapers found out and went nuts, and TV cameras showed up to interview the police chief. He laughed his arse off when he realized why they were there.
A fierce thank you. I directed a mixed hazard (chemical and radiological) process and was even considered quite expert in it.
I have the osha-40 and all the other crap but all I ever intend to do given a situation is evacuate. My 1-word synopsis for the painfully boring annual refresher is "Run!"
The hospital just got another large group of people from Graniteville.
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