By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – A train derailment that spilled molten sulfur in eastern Kentucky on the eve of Thanksgiving disrupted holiday plans for local residents in the remote area on Thursday, some of whom were forced to evacuate after the incident.
The train derailment occurred north of Livingston, a town of about 200 people, and involved 16 cars, including two cars carrying molten sulfur that spilled some of their load.
Railroad operator CSX said in a statement that the spilled sulfur was still burning. When molten sulfur burns, it can release sulfur dioxide, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says can cause severe irritation to the respiratory tract, eyes, mucous membranes, and skin.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared an emergency, and local officials went door to door to evacuate some residents, who were moved to a local school for safety.
“I was freaking out because I said, ‘We are cooking, we got turkeys in the ovens. We can’t leave.’ They were like, ‘You have to go, it is a bad situation, you have to go,'” Livingston resident Linda Todd told a CBS News affiliate.
Another resident, Evelyn Gray, told an NBC News affiliate that the released chemical contents caused her to have an asthma attack.
“It just hit me so hard, I could hardly breathe,” she said.
No fatalities were reported.
CSX said “specialized equipment” was deployed to conduct air monitoring in the area. The cause of the derailment was not clear.
The railroad operator added that it secured hotels for those affected and was working with restaurants to provide them meals and other necessities.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, editing by Ross Colvin and Jonathan Oatis)
