(The Associated Press circulated the following story on July 31.)
ASHLAND, Ky. — About 20 cars of a freight train derailed in a rural area of northeast Kentucky early Saturday, hitting a natural gas line and forcing about 45 people to evacuate, state police said.
No one was hurt when the CSX train cars left the tracks in Beattyville shortly after midnight, said Rebekah Wright, a state police dispatcher at the Ashland post.
Residents were evacuated from the area immediately after the accident because officials smelled gas leaking, Trooper Chris Yavorcik said. The evacuation order lasted only two hours.
Columbia Gas of Kentucky was still trying to fix a ruptured natural gas line late Saturday afternoon.
CSX spokeswoman Jane Covington said company officials were on the scene investigating. She said they did not know yet what caused the cars to derail. The train started in Columbus, stopped in Russell, Ky. to pick up cars and was headed to Cincinnati.
State police closed U.S. 23 in the south Portsmouth area and the Carl Perkins bridge at 6 a.m., but both were reopened within four hours, Yavorcik said.
Beattyville is a small town between South Shore and South Portsmouth in Greenup County.