(The Canadian Press circulated the following on August 5.)
PRINCE GEORGE — CN Rail is dealing with a wreck after two trains collided yesterday on the banks of the Fraser River in Prince George.
RCMP Const. Gary Godwin said it appeared one train derailed and collided with a train on the opposing tracks.
Fuel leaked into the Fraser River and thick black smoke from the diesel in one engine blackened the skies of the city.
Godwin said a lumber car on one of the trains was also burning.
Three locomotives were northbound while the train with the lumber was southbound. No one was injured in the incident.
CN spokesman Jim Feeny said the trains, one of them with three locomotives, collided in the CN yard. He could not say how many cars were involved in the wreck.
Feeny said it is not known what environmental damage may have occurred as fuel from the locomotves and a tanker car leaked onto the ground in the yard and near the river.
He said crews were able to remove cars not directly involved in the blaze.
Godwin said hundreds of onlookers viewed the blaze from a park on the other side of the river. That led to the park being shut due to the danger of a tanker laden with diesel exploding.
The derailment came the day after it was announced that CN Rail is facing federal and provincial charges as a result of a derailment that sent toxic chemicals into a river north of Vancouver.
Company spokeswoman Kelli Svendsen said CN was served late Thursday with five counts.