NATIONAL BRIEFING / ILLINOIS
Railroad tank cars holding thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol derailed on the edge of the town of Rockford and exploded in flames, killing a 41-year-old woman as she tried to run to safety from a car stopped at a crossing.
Three other people from the same car escaped with severe burns. Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes near the explosion.
Eighteen tank cars, all filled with ethanol, derailed about 80 miles northwest of Chicago. The wreckage burned through the night, but the fire was extinguished by Saturday evening, leaving a blackened collection of rail cars piled on top of one another.
A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said an investigation into the cause could take a year.
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