(The Associated Press circulated the following article on June 28.)
JACKSON, Miss. — Two freight trains collided Tuesday west of Jackson, starting fires around the engines and in the woods nearby.
All five crew members were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Kansas City Southern Railroad spokeswoman Doniele Kane said. However, Fire Department spokesman R.D. Simpson said two of the workers were critically injured.
The trains, one westbound, the other eastbound, collided and derailed near the community of Dixon — well away from homes or businesses but a half-mile from a day care center, where the staff members heard the wreck.
”Parents began to come get their children when they heard about the train wreck, but some parents have been frantic because they couldn’t get through because the road is blocked,” day-care center assistant director Beverly Jefferson said.
Most of the rail cars were empty, authorities said. The flames, fueled by the locomotives’ diesel fuel, were quickly extinguished.
The cause of the wreck was under investigation.