Ohio residents sheltered in after another train derailment
Ohio residents were ordered to shelter in place Saturday after another Norfolk Southern train ran off the tracks.
The 212-car train derailed at Ohio 41 near the Prime Ohio Business Park in Springfield around 5 p.m., the Clark County Emergency Management said.
About 20 of the train’s box cars toppled off the tracks while it was traveling through the city.
The Saturday crash took place roughly 300 miles southeast of East Palestine, where residents are growing sick from toxins spilled last month.
A spokesperson confirmed with The Post that Norfolk Southern — the same railway company involved in the tragic East Palestine derailment that contaminated 1.1 million gallons of water and 15,000 pounds of soil — was operating the derailed train.
A Northern Suffolk train derailed in Springfield, Ohio Saturday. WHIO TV 7
“No hazardous materials are involved and there have been no reported injuries,” the company said.
Hazmat crews at the scene identified four tankers containing non-hazardous materials; two had residual amounts of diesel exhaust fluid, and two had residual amounts of polyacrylamide water solution, WHIO-TV reported Sunday.
Officials determined there was no public health risk and said the drinking water near the site was safe to drink, although the scene remained “active,” according to the report.
Clark County lifted the shelter-in-place order early Sunday.
Residents within 1,000 feet of the derailment had been asked to remain indoors “out of an abundance of caution.”
Hazmat crews reportedly arrived at the scene as no injuries were reported in the crash. WHIO TV 7
Officials reported multiple downed power lines, leaving as many as 1,500 Springfield customers without power.
Multiple roadways near the accident were shut down.
Shawn Heaton told the Springfield News-Sun that he was in his car waiting for the train to pass when he watched one of the box cars slip off the track, leading the following cars to plunge into one another in a massive pile-up — a moment he caught on camera.
“I was right there and I was playing on my phone and then I heard a loud bang. And when I heard the loud bang, I started recording,” Heaton said.
“When I heard the bang, there was all kinds of debris and metal shoot out from under the cars and that’s when I started recording and you could see them start jumping off the tracks.”
The derailment is Norfolk Southern’s fourth within Ohio over the last five months, Sen. Sherrod Brown pointed out.
Another of the company’s trains carrying hazardous materials derailed in Detroit, Migican just days after the East Palestine crash.
“This is unacceptable,” he said.
Clark County did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.