TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Police Chief Jason Wright feared the worst as he rushed to the scene of a freight train derailment in Michigan’s Van Buren Township, mindful of a fiery rail crash this month in Ohio that led to evacuations and a toxic chemical release.
Instead, the situation a half-hour’s drive west of Detroit was far less grim: 28 of 134 cars in a Norfolk Southern train had gone at least partially off the track Thursday with a couple overturned and several others upright but knocked sideways. No one was injured and nothing appeared to have spilled. The lone car carrying hazardous materials wasn’t affected.
“We couldn’t believe how lucky we were, considering the awful situation over there in Ohio,” Wright said Friday.
About 50 train cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. Vinyl chloride later was released into the air from five of them before crews ignited it to get rid of the highly flammable chemicals in a controlled way, creating a dark plume of smoke.
Residents from nearby neighborhoods in Ohio and Pennsylvania were evacuated because of health risks from the fumes. They later were allowed to return but many say they’ve experienced headaches and eye irritations and worry about long-term effects.