GALENA, Ill. (AP) – A freight train loaded with crude oil derailed in northern Illinois on Thursday, bursting into flames and prompting authorities to evacuate everyone within 1 mile, authorities said.
The train derailed around 1:20 p.m. in a rural area where the Galena River meets the Mississippi, said Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Moser. Authorities didn’t say exactly how many people were evacuated, but said it wasn’t many.
The train had 103 cars loaded with crude oil, along with two buffer cars loaded with sand. A cause hadn’t yet been determined. No injuries were reported.
Galena City Administrator Mark Moran told the Dubuque Telegraph Herald newspaper in Iowa that eight tankers had left the track. “Two of those were still upright. The other six were not,” she said.
A release from the Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Department confirmed it was oil from the Northern Plains’ Bakken region.