MALTA, Mont. — According to the Billings Gazette, a half-dozen cars on a 31-unit Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train derailed about 18 miles east of here Tuesday afternoon, including a unit containing potassium hydroxide.
Another derailed car contained gunpowder primers and paint products, officials said.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the derailed cars were near the end of the train and there were no injuries.
Phillips County Sheriff Tom Miller said people were kept a half-mile from the scene as a precaution because of concerns about possible leakage.
The train was on a route from Chicago to Portland along Montana’s Hi-Line, but the derailment was more than a mile south of U.S. 2.
Potassium hydroxide is poisonous and highly corrosive. It can cause severe burns on and scarring of body tissues and death if ingested. It is not combustible, but contact with water or moisture can cause enough heat to ignite other flammable materials.