(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 a nearby wooded area.
All five crewmembers on the two trains were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, Kansas City Southern Railroad spokesman Doniele Kane said.
A westbound train from Meridian and an eastbound train from Shreveport, La., collided near the community of Dixon, Kane said. There were no homes or businesses near the collision site.
Kane said there were no hazardous materials on the two trains, both operated by Kansas City Southern. The fire was from the locomotives’ diesel fuel and was quickly extinguished, he said.
Most of the two trains’ 20 cars were empty, said Amy Carruth, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Television news helicopter coverage showed some freight cars derailed behind the engines, but it appeared that many of the cars remained on the tracks.