ATLANTA — According to a wire service, a CSX Corp. freight train derailed on Saturday near an Atlanta water reservoir, and at least one of its cars was leaking a hazardous chemical, a company spokesman said.
About seven cars of a 79-car train veered off the tracks in Northwest Atlanta in mid-afternoon, said Bob Sullivan, the CSX spokesman.
“There are some cars that are on their side, and one car carried a material, hexamethylene diamine,” Sullivan said. The material can cause severe burns to mucous membranes, respiratory tract, eyes, and skin.
A vapor cloud was visible in the area of the derailment, and Atlanta police and fire department officials evacuated residents and businesses within a half-mile of the area as hazardous materials teams worked to contain the chemicals.
Sullivan said up to 100 people were evacuated, and said the cause of the derailment was not immediately known.
Craig Camuso, a CSX spokesman at the scene of the derailment, told the local Fox TV station that at least four people, one adult and three children, were taken to a hospital to be treated for possible chemical exposure.
“The adult broke out in a rash,” Camuso said. “The three children were taken as precautionary measures. All, as soon as they were exposed, were immediately washed out by our crew.”
The train was traveling from New Orleans to Hamlet, North Carolina, when it derailed, said Sullivan.