On February 3rd 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying thousands of gallons of toxic and hazardous material derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in the United States.
The train blazed and burned for more than two days releasing toxic chemicals in the air. Residences within a one mile radius of the crash site were evacuated.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced that the derailment was 100 percent preventable.
Thousands of fish were found dead in the waterways around the area. An estimated 45,000 animals, especially aquatic animals have been found dead as a direct result of the train derailment.
The Norfolk Southern freight train that was operating from the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis yard in Madison, Illinois, to Norfolk Southerns Conway Yard in Conway, Pennsylvania was a 2.8 km long train that was carrying 141 loaded cars and 9 empty ones. 20 of the cars were carrying hazardous materials and the train employees said that after departure it had at least one mechanical failure before it derailed in East Palestine Ohio.
51 cars derailed ending up in a pile that caught fire and burned for days. 11 of the cars that derailed were carrying hazardous material which burned and released toxins in the air and polluted the water and land of the surrounding area.
Initial findings revealed that a mechanical problem that initiated an emergency brake was what caused the derailment.