Bridge collapse sends freight train off rails in northwestern Iowa
A bridge collapse sent a Union Pacific Railroad train off the rails on Sunday in a northwestern Iowa town, sending black smoke billowing skyward.
No one was reported as injured, though evacuations were ordered in a 5-mile radius around the scene of the derailment, KMEG-TV reported. In addition, emergency personnel blocked all waterways near the derailment.
Sibley is in the far northwestern corner of Iowa, about 200 miles northwest of Des Moines. Parts of the 3,000-population town were evacuated, resident Nate Minten told the newspaper.
Aerial video of the scene caught by Minten showed dozens of train cars in a heap, in flames, the smoke rising from the front, the Des Moines Register reported.
The train was hauling fertilizer and ammonium nitrate, Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls told KIWA radio.
Residents not evacuating were encouraged to open their windows on both sides and position themselves in the middle of their homes as a “preventative safety measure in case one of the rail cars on fire explodes,” KIWA radio reported.
