Freight train carrying chemical cars derails in Montana

MALTA, Mont. (AP) -- Six tanker cars of a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train, three of them containing a poisonous chemical, derailed east of Malta on Monday night, closing U.S. Route 2 and forcing evacuations of up to 400 residents, a railway official said.

Initial reports were that none of the chemicals leaked from the 100-car train traveling from Memphis, Tenn., to Pasco, Wash. Sparks from the derailing trail created small fires for several miles.

BNFS spokesman Gus Melonas said three of the tankers contain carbon disulphide, a poisonous, highly flammable chemical used in making solvent and cellophane.

Two other tankers contain titanium dioxide and pose no threat to the environment, Melonas said. The sixth car, containing glue, remained upright, he said.

Malta, in north-central Montana, is about 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

Melonas said the requested evacuation was a precaution and involved from 200 to 400 people. A railroad emergency team rushed to the site and a special hazardous-materials firm was en route from Helena, about 290 miles to the southwest.

"We don't know if they're releasing any fumes," Phillips County Fire Chief Clark Kelly said of the derailed tanker cars.

He said the train set fires along the right-of-way as far away as 20 to 30 miles to the east, toward Saco, and train personnel were fighting them.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)

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