(East Palestine) A train carrying a chemical product derailed in the state of Ohio, causing a gigantic fire and the evacuation of several hundred people, American officials and media said on Saturday.
The Friday evening derailment of this 50-car train in East Palestine near the border with Pennsylvania, caused no casualties.
Several explosions were heard as train cars continued to burn on Saturday, according to local media, despite the efforts of firefighters, slowed by water tankers freezing due to the polar cold that hit this weekend -end on this part of North America.
PHOTO MELISSA SMITH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
This train was carrying vinyl chloride, a chemical used in the manufacture of plastic.
Some 2,000 residents, roughly half the population of East Palestine, have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Local authorities have ordered all residents within a 1.6 km radius of the disaster site to vacate the scene.
“We can never say enough about the need to stay away from the site” of the accident, wrote the mayor of East Palestine in a message posted on Facebook.