Ohio officials to release toxic chemicals from derailed train to avert explosion

Authorities in Ohio say they plan to release toxic chemicals from five cars of a derailed train in Ohio to reduce the threat of an explosion.

Residents near the site have been ordered to evacuate. DeWine said residents need to leave the area because of the risk of death or serious injury.

Police officers and others knocked on doors on Sunday night telling people to leave and were back out in the same neighborhoods on Monday, DeWine said. Authorities believe most, if not all, people have left who were told to do so.

Scott Deutsch of Norfolk Southern Railway said the controlled release during the daytime will allow the fumes to disperse more quickly and prevent the rail cars from exploding and sending shrapnel and other debris flying through the neighborhood, Deutsch said.

He estimated the process would take from one to three hours. The site is very close to the state line, and the evacuation area extends into Pennsylvania.

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash on Friday night, according to rail operator Norfolk Southern and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). No injuries to crew, residents or first responders were reported.

The cars involved carried combustible liquids, butyl acrylate and residue of benzene from previous shipments, officials said.

Police cars, snowplows and military vehicles from the Ohio national guard blocked streets leading into East Palestine on Monday morning as authorities began enforcing what had previously been a strongly recommended evacuation zone within a one-mile (1.6km) radius of the crash site.

Schools and many businesses were closed, and the local high school was turned into a shelter.

Federal investigators had announced on Sunday that a mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the fiery derailment near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night.

The NTSB said only 10 cars carrying hazardous materials derailed, and five of them were carrying vinyl chloride, not 14 as was said earlier. Officials stressed late Saturday that they had not confirmed the release of vinyl chloride other than from pressure release devices operating as designed.

Officials said on Sunday afternoon that cars involved also carried combustible liquids, butyl acrylate and residue of benzene from previous shipments, as well as nonhazardous materials such as wheat, plastic pellets, malt liquors and lube oil.

Norfolk Southern opened an assistance center in the village to gather information from affected residents. Village officials said 75 people went to the center on Saturday and about 100 had been there Sunday morning.