Massive train derailment kills truck driver after trapping them under pile of coal
A truck driver was killed after being buried by piles of coal after a train derailed in Colorado.
The crash took place around 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon as a freight train crossed above Interstate-25 on an overpass. Photos from the scene show mountains of train cars and coal strewn across the roadway.
Colorado State Patrol Major Brian Lyons estimated about 12 coal cars derailed after the bridge collapsed.
‘Expect extended closure in the area due to train cars and coal on the interstate,’ the state police office said in a subsequent news release.
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the death of a semi-truck driver on Monday morning.
The driver was caught underneath the overpass when it collapsed. His condition was unknown for hours after the disaster.
The truck was the only vehicle involved in the accident, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The massive derailment has closed I-25, which serves as the primary north-south route connecting the cities of Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said it would be an ‘extended closure.’
The train was operated by BNSF Railways, who said none of the crew onboard was hurt in the derailment
Neither the company nor law enforcement officials have determined the cause of the disaster.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced they were opening an investigation into the crash.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he was in touch with Governor Polis and has been briefed on the situation.
‘State and local authorities are leading the immediate emergency response, and we will be ready to help in any way needed to support a swift return to normal use for the highway and rail routes affected,’ Buttigieg said in a post on social media.
Sunday’s derailment is only the latest in a number of rail disasters that took place in the United States this year.
In February, a freight train crash in eastern Ohio forced people to evacuate after toxic chemicals were released in a ‘controlled’ explosion.
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