CA, Mojave - Eight Cars Derail in Mountain Passgreenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread
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WIRE:05/24/2000 22:44:00 ET Eight cars derail in Calif. mountain pass MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) _ Eight freight train cars, some carrying a flammable material, derailed Wednesday in a mountain pass. A Union Pacific train conductor who inhaled some toxic fumes after the derailment was hospitalized. Fire crews responding to a 1:30 p.m. call found the box cars off the track, including a leaking box car that carried non-pressurized vinyl acetate.
Vinyl acetate is a clear, colorless industrial chemical that can cause irritation in the eyes, nose, and throat. It is used to make other chemicals, as a coating in plastic films for food packaging and as a modifier of food starch.
Four box cars carried dry gypsum, a petroleum product, salt and hot asphalt. The others were empty.
The cause of the derailment, which shut down Highway 58 in both directions for 10 miles, was not known.
-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 24, 2000