(The following article by Jesse Bogan was posted on the San Antonio Express-News website on December 9.)
MIRANDO CITY, Tex. — About 50 people were evacuated from their homes here early Monday after a train headed for Mexico derailed and a tanker full of a fuel additive caught fire and burned for hours, officials said.
One of the engineers was taken to Laredo Medical Center after the 2:15 a.m. accident but his injuries were not life threatening, said Jim Riney, the Laredo-based general manager of the Texas-Mexican Railroad.
“He got a little nervous and his blood pressure was rising a little bit, but he’s OK,” Riney said.
Two Miranda City residents were treated at a hospital for possible smoke inhalation and released, witnesses said.
The Red Cross was on hand at a shelter in the town of 500, about 30 miles east of Laredo. Most evacuees went home by noon.
“It woke me up because it shook the house,” said Leonides Benavidez, 87. “I was sound asleep.”
Ten hours later, plumes of smoke from the site were still visible more than 20 miles away as emergency crews let the fire burn itself out.
“We have not been able to get close enough to see (the wreckage). It’s been too hot,” Riney said Monday afternoon. “We don’t know what happened yet.”
By 5 p.m. only a small fire continued, said Jay Gandy, of the Little Rock, Ark., based Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, contracted to monitor air quality.
Laredo Fire Chief Luis Sosa said at least 50 emergency responders were at the scene and additional water had to be hauled in from nearby Bruni and Oilton.
The Texas-Mexican Railroad has hired a company to clean up the site.