Freight train derails near Chicago

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A freight train derailed, triggering an explosion that left at least two people critically injured Friday night and prompted officials to evacuate the area northwest of Chicago amid concerns that more of the train's cars might catch fire.

Officials said several people were injured in the derailment that occurred around 8:30 p.m.

OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center nursing supervisor Myra Porthouse said two people at the hospital were in critical condition with burn injuries and another was in serious condition.

Officials were evacuating residents within a half-mile of the derailment, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, but did not have an estimate on how many people were being told to leave their homes. There are subdivisions in the area.

"It's very dangerous, it's very explosive," Kirk Wilson, a fire chief in nearby Rockton, told reporters, explaining that the tanker cars that exploded were carrying ethanol. "We can't speculate on how long the evacuation will be in effect."

Wilson, whose department was one of at least 26 that responded to the derailment, said the 114-car train included 74 tankers carrying ethanol and that 12 of those tankers were involved in the fire. There remained a possibility that the fire could spread to the other tanker cars, he said. He also said firefighters were not rushing in to put the fire out but letting the ethanol burn off.

The cause of the derailment remained under investigation, Wilson said.

There had been heavy rainfall in the area and the Rockford Register Star reported that the track may have been washed out.

Witnesses reported seeing a massive fireball after the train derailed, according to the newspaper.

"At first I thought it was a tornado because they always say a tornado sounds like a train coming," Jeff Tilley, an employee of the paper who lives near the scene, said.

Another Register Star employee, Amy Walker, said she and her husband were in a car near the crossing when they saw train cars bouncing up and down.

"Then they started piling up and the two tank cars exploded," she said.

When that happened, she said, several people in vehicles near the crossing jumped out and ran away.



by the associated press