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.
Its now raining in Graniteville which will cause the clorine to lay down. Just giving an update.
My son and family live on Wise Hollow Road on the outskirts of Aiken. Is that anywhere near this accident? My DIL has a lot of allergies and I'm sure she would be affected by the slightest air contamination.
It IS raining which is the worst thing they said right now.
I will go look up on my street map where Wise Hollow Road, and will get back to you how far away they are from the crash site.
Okay. Your son and family are southwest of the crash site. It looks to be about 7-8 miles away. We're a tad less than five miles away and we're okay.
We are staying indoors with the windows closed and the ventillation off. It's so mild outside we don't need a/c or heat.
Please let us know if you reach them; hopefully they did not spend much time outdoors and I seriously doubt they were anywhere near downtown or the affected area because there are so many roadblocks.
Good luck!
And I should have said your son is south east of the crash site.
The switch on a main line was left open to a switch yard. A train carrying approximately 42 cars and three engines went into the switch yard and hit a standing train doing about fifty MPH.
I have posted a sperate thread asking for prayers for Graniteville.
Thank you for doing that. Prayers indeed.
Are you in the area?
Have relatives in Effingham....where is that in relation to site?
Thank you for the updates. I hope this gets cleaned up soon. Will check back for further info on this thread.
Tonight is going to be rough for you people. If you have a place to go, I would leave. The weather conditions could not be worse. What chlorine does to you is it forms Hydrochloric acid in your lungs, your lungs fill up with body fluids and you basically drown in your own fluids. It is like instant pneumonia. This is why your eyes are burning. It also attacks some petroleum based products like nylon and Dacron. Pour some chlorox on a nylon rope and see what it does to it.
Two more bodies have been discovered.
Several vehicles just pulled into the hospital filled with people, some of them in very bad shape.
Shelters set up for residents near Aiken Co. train wreck/chlorine
(Aiken) Jan. 6, 2004 - Five shelters have been set up for evacuees.
They're located at USC Aiken, Midland Valley High School, South Aiken High School, First Baptist Church and the May's Community Center in Augusta.
Norfolk Southern is putting out some cash to help families forced to evacuate. The railroad company has set-up a local assistance center at First Presbyterian Church at 224 Barnwell Avenue in Aiken. Anyone that's being forced to leave their home can go to the church to get help with to help with hotels, meals and other expenses. Checks are being written on the spot.
Red Cross feeding and sheltering 3,000 evacuees and feeding first responders. Mental health counselors and nurses will be at the shelters.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2776334&nav=0RaPUuvS
Lincolnton, but I know what chlorine can do. I was in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and am well aware of war gasses. It was used in WWI.
Chlorine can be really deadly. I remember when a truck carrying chlorine tipped off the spaghetti turns on the freeway near the Galleria in Houston back in the 1970s. There were quite a few deaths along the highway besides the truck driver.
There was a mother in my sons' school who was blinded and her hair turned snow white from the accident, even though she didn't die. People got out of their cars to flee from the accident and were overcome by the fumes and dies right on the freeway.
It was a real tragedy, but it was just one truck. I can't image the havoc that would be caused by a whole train derailment.
I'm sorry. I'm responding on multiple sites. Give me a second to look it up, annie.
Annie - your relatives in Effingham are near Florence which is several hours away. They are safe!
We're only five miles away and we're safe. Do not worry.
Thanks for taking time out for that, Peach. Please take care....
I also have allergies and that could be why my eyes are burning. Only one other person in our neighborhood has any symptoms of burning eyes.
We're okay, really. My husband is an abundantly cautious man and if he thought we should leave, we would. As well, we are friends with the sheriff and he has assured us that we are going to be okay.
I'm happy to do it. Aiken County is under a state of emergency and it is the biggest county in South Carolina. I knew that freepers would worry about their loved ones and it's easy for me to look this up for you.
We'll be just fine. We are not worried about ourselves at all.
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