(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 6.)
HERSHEY, Pa. — Nearly a dozen homes were evacuated after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying chlorine gas derailed.
Officials reported no injuries and no hazardous leaks but said Thursday that the homes would remain evacuated while the eight derailed cars — one a tanker car containing chlorine gas — were being removed.
The cars derailed about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday behind the Hershey American Legion post, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said. The post and part of the nearby Hershey Country Club golf course were also evacuated.
The 76-car train was traveling from Allentown to Baltimore, Husband said.
Last year, a train crash that punctured a tank car carrying chlorine gas in Graniteville, S.C., killed nine people and sickening more than 250 others with the toxic vapors.