Tank Car Implodes, Spews Toxic Gas
A tank car imploded at a paper mill Monday, sending a huge pinkish-yellow cloud of poisonous gas into the sky and forcing a widespread evacuation.
More than half the town’s 16,000 residents live in the evacuation area. While some fled to towns and hospitals as far as 20 miles away, others stayed home with their windows tightly closed.
Hundreds of people went to hospitals to be treated for burning eyes and throats.
“They all have the same complaints: shortness of breath, eyes burning, throats burning,” said state Rep. Jerry Thomas, a doctor at Riverside Medical Center in Franklinton, 20 miles west of Bogalusa.
The car at the Gaylord Chemical Corp. plant in the heart of Bogalusa, about 60 miles north of New Orleans, began leaking around 4 p.m. and collapsed with a bang about 45 minutes later, Washington Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Nicolais said.
The area around the plant was barricaded and people were told to leave. Streets were jammed and officers told those who could not get out to stay home with their windows closed. Roads into the city were closed.
The gas was identified as nitrogen tetroxide, which is used by the plant to make boxes.
“The gas is really, really bad stuff. It’s fatal if inhaled,” state trooper Russell Mayfield said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
