Posted on 06/29/2004 7:15:05 PM PDT by PatriotEdition
This isn't good....... toxic fumes?
Three People Killed by Breathing Poisonous Fumes After Texas Train Collision
By T.A. Badger Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 29, 2004
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - The collision of two freight trains released a plume of toxic fumes that killed a conductor and two people who lived nearby, investigators said Tuesday. Two others were left critically ill.
A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived late Monday to determine the cause of the crash of the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains in a rural area southwest of San Antonio.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.tbo.com ...
chlorine?
Authorities said the collision near Nelson and Old Pearsall roads derailed 17 Burlington Northern and 19 Union Pacific railroad cars, as well as four locomotives.
Bhopal?
Officials gauge risk of ruptured railcarWeb Posted: 06/29/2004 04:38 PM CDT
Federal officials today tried to determine the degree of threat posed by a ruptured railcar carrying a toxic gas involved in a train collision early Monday.
Three people — including the conductor from one of the trains -- died, probably as a result of the chlorine gas, officials said this morning. The area in southwest Bexar County may be evacuated again, depending on how dangerous officials think it will be to move the tank so clean up can begin.
Today's rain has slowed efforts. Fire officials said chlorine gas turns into hydrochloric acid when mixed with water.
Union Pacific handed off the investigation of the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board this morning. But officials from that agency weren't expected to give a statement until 4 p.m.
Moving the ruptured railcar may cause additional leakage, Bexar County Fire Marshal Carl Mixon said, so officials were using computer models to help gauge the degree of risk.
A "phone-through emergency notification system," which calls many houses at once with a recorded message, will be used to alert residents in the area if an evacuation becomes necessary. Officials will alert residents on a house-to-house basis if necessary, Mixon added.
"More families may be impacted during the move," he said.
Meanwhile, relatives of two of the victims who apparently died from the toxic fumes caused by the spill alleged that it took emergency personnel more than seven hours to assist several family members who were trapped in their homes near the crash site.
Mixon said the victims -- a mother and daughter who died in their beds yesterday morning — probably died immediately after the accident took place.
"They had their air conditioning on," Mixon said, noting that noxious fumes were able to filter into the house through its ventilation system.
Authorities said that the rough terrain and the proximity to the "hot zone, " where a large amount of chlorine was released, made it difficult for rescue officials to approach the house in their protective gear without their oxygen supply running out.
Some rescue workers, Mixon said, were overcome by the combination of heat and chemicals.
Given the conditions, he added, it was safer for people in the immediate vicinity to remain indoors with their doors and windows shut and air conditioning off, than to expose themselves to the chlorine in an attempt to flee.
I remember when a truck with chlorine gas flipped off a Houston freeway and fell onto an underpass, killing several. This was in the mid-late 1970s if I recall correctly. Folks were told to shut off their air conditioners and block their vents if they lived in the area. It was quite scary.
What I remember most was driving through the overpass a week or so later and seeing how all the vegetation around the crash site was dead and brown. Eerie.
That was Amonia. I was working at Greenway Plaza and we could see it from our building. It killed 21 people.
Yes, you're right. I remember that now. Did you see how dead all the green plants in the area were?
Here's a link. The intersection was right next to the Houston Post building.
http://www.maxmcrae.com/major_fires/ammonia.htm
Yep. We were at least a 1/4 mile away and when we went outside the fumes were choking us. The truck that crashed was not even that large.
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