"1 dead after train derailment, blast" by Christina M. Wright, Associated Press | June 21, 2009
ROCKFORD, Ill. - Railroad tank cars holding thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol derailed and exploded in flames, killing a 41-year-old woman as she tried to run to safety from a car stopped at a crossing.
Three other people from the same car escaped with severe burns. Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes near the explosion. Eighteen tank cars, all filled with ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, derailed Friday on the edge of Rockford, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.
So not only do they admit it screwed with the food supply (nice going, fart-mist f***s), but now we find out we have ROLLING FIREBALLS coming through YOUR TOWN over this damnable LIE of "global warming!"
The wreckage burned through the night, but the fire was dying down yesterday afternoon as federal investigators began collecting evidence. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Robert Sumwalt said investigators wouldn’t speculate about what may have caused the derailment. A thorough investigation could take a year, he said.
Investigators will look into the train crew’s performance, the train’s mechanical components, signals, the integrity of the cars containing ethanol, and the emergency response, Sumwalt said.
Reports that the derailment was caused by a washout of the tracks following heavy rain were “not a certainty and this remains under investigation,’’ said
Some people were allowed to return to their homes yesterday, but authorities were not letting anyone within a quarter-mile of the derailment site, said Allen Geeser, battalion chief of the Cherry Valley Fire Protection District.
Two crewmen on the eastbound Canadian National train escaped injury, Waldron said. The engine crew was able to pull 64 cars away from the fire. At least 26 fire departments had sent crews to the scene. Witnesses told the Rockford Register Star that cars on the Chicago-bound train began hydroplaning in standing water as it approached the crossing.
One wonders why this doesn't happen more often, hmmm?
Why do I feel I'm being lied to again?
"Train derailment in Italy kills 14; Explosion raises questions about aging system" by Marta Falconi, Associated Press | July 1, 2009
VIAREGGIO, Italy - A gas-filled train derailed while traveling through a downtown neighborhood around midnight Monday, catching residents in their sleep, and setting off a massive explosion that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens of others, most with severe burns....
As rescuers searched through the rubble for survivors, unions and consumer groups denounced what they said is the poor safety record and aging infrastructure of Italy’s rail system and questioned sending highly explosive cargo through an inhabited area....
A car filled with liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, sprung a leak and all it took then was a spark to cause an explosion that collapsed five buildings and set fire to a vast area. Homes crumbled or burned, killing residents as they slept.
“We saw a ball of fire rising up to the sky,’’ said witness Gianfranco Bini, who lives in a building overlooking the station.... Videos uploaded onto YouTube showed a huge plume of fire and smoke towering above Viareggio’s low houses. An inferno raged through the night, consuming buildings and cars, while the sound of sirens and explosions pierced the air.
TV images showed residents, their bodies blackened by the smoke, being carried away on stretchers.... Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s center-right premier, traveled to Viareggio to take charge of the situation and was greeted with boos and cries of “go home’’ as he arrived at the town’s municipality. Tuscany is usually a left-leaning region of Italy.
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