S.C. Train Crash, Gas Leak Kill 8

A freight train carrying chlorine gas struck a parked train early Thursday, killing eight people and injuring more than 240 others, nearly all of them sickened by a toxic cloud that persisted over this small textile town near the Georgia border.

By afternoon, authorities ordered an evacuation of all 5,400 people within a mile of the crash because chlorine was continuing to leak and the gas was settling near the ground as temperatures dropped. They were unsure when the gas leak might be sealed.

State Sen. Tommy Moore said Thursday night that officials at Avondale Mill, the textile plant where the crash happened, told him eight people were found dead following the accident, including five inside the mill.

Eight people were in critical condition Thursday night after the 2:30 a.m. wreck of Norfolk Southern trains, in which 16 cars derailed.

Moore said he was told seven of the deaths were caused by chlorine fumes. The engineer of the moving train died in the crash. Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Frank said one person was found dead in a home and another was found in a vehicle.

Most of the injured were treated for respiratory ailments and released, but at least 45 people were admitted to hospitals, authorities said.

The gas can damage the respiratory and central nervous systems, as well as the throat, nose and eyes.

Jim Toole, an official with the American Red Cross, said early today in Aiken, S.C., that 132 people were housed in three shelters in the town, which is about 20 miles east of Graniteville.

Three of the 42 cars on the moving train were carrying chlorine, Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said. He didn’t know how many of the cars were damaged.

Residents were jarred awake by the sound of dragging metal and a house-shaking boom. A chemical fog lay over the crash site when Douglas Brown drove there after hearing the wreck.

“It made your tongue numb, your throat get sore and your eyes get dry,” said Brown, 44, who was among those treated.

Two other hazardous materials, cresol and sodium hydroxide, were on the train in liquid form, but were a less immediate concern because they are corrosive only in direct contact, an official said. It was not known whether either liquid spilled.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration sent investigators to the accident.