(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 21.)
NEWSOMS, Va. — Two CSX freight trains collided head-on early Thursday, injuring several people and leaving some of the wrecked rail cars burning, state police said.
The collision occurred about 3 a.m. along a rail line in rural southeastern Virginia just north of the North Carolina state line, State Police Sgt. D.S. Carr said.
Carr could not say how seriously injured the people were or if they were rail workers or residents. The trains were believed to be carrying rocks, he said.
A CSX spokesman in Jacksonville, Fla., did not immediately return a telephone message left by The Associated Press.
The collision happened on a rail line that runs parallel to state Route 671 and was blocking at least two roads, said Tiffany Elliot of the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The National Transportation Safety Board was being alerted.