A train carrying oil and heading for Yorktown derailed in West Virginia on Monday, resulting in more than 100 residents having to be evacuated.
A CSX spokesperson said personnel are still investigating the cause of the derailment, while about 100 to 125 people living near the derailment site in Mount Carbon, W. Va. have been evacuated.
The Red Cross and other relief organizations are working with the evacuees, especially given the frigid winter conditions.
The train, consisting of two locomotives and 109 rail cars, was traveling from North Dakota to Yorktown on Monday when it derailed in a West Virginia town, causing at least one rail car to rupture and catch fire, CSX officials said.
A total of 26 tank cars carrying Bakken crude oil derailed at around 1:20 p.m. Monday, and 19 cars were involved in subsequent fires, W. Va. Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesperson Lawrence Messina said in a release.
Some oil was found in a creek that runs parallel to the CSX tracks in Mount Carbon, W.Va.
Teams are working to deploy environmental protective and monitoring on land, air and in the Kanawha River, the release said. Personnel from the state, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Railroad Administration are investigating the damage, and experts will begin transferring oil from the damaged cars to other tanks as soon as it is safe to do so.
No injuries were reported other than one person treated for possible respiratory problems.
W.Va Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency in Kanawha and Fayette counties Monday after the derailment.
