1 Killed, 4 Injured In Train Accident

[TexasStooge]

GUNTER, Texas (KXAS TV) -- Two freight trains collided just outside Gunter Wednesday, killing one man and injuring four others, authorities said. About 20 cars derailed in a tangled mess of steel.

Department of Public Safety Trooper Rebecca Uresti said one of the injured men suffered severe burns and was taken by medical helicopter to a Dallas hospital. The other three victims were taken to Wilson N. Jones Medical Center in Sherman.

Uresti said the man who died was an engineer on the southbound train. Officials were withholding his name pending the notification of next of kin.

Lt. David Hawley of the Grayson County Sheriff's Department said the rail cars on one of the trains were empty. The other hauled rocks. There were no evacuations, but a hazardous materials crew was called to the scene to clean up spilled diesel fuel.

Joe Faust, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., said both of the trains belonged to the company. He said a team from Burlington Northern was traveling to the scene.

The northbound and southbound trains collided head-on, and at least one of the locomotives burned. The southbound train had 24 cars and three locomotives. The number of cars on the other train was not immediately available.

The cause of the accident wasn't immediately known. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were en route, Hawley said.

U.S. Department of Transportation officials were on the scene late Wednesday night.

The collision is the second this month in Texas. On May 3, two freight trains collided on a Union Pacific track just south of downtown San Antonio, injuring three people.

Two locomotives and 12 freight cars from one of the trains derailed, with both engines and five of the cars falling into the San Antonio River. About 5,600 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled into the river, according to a UP spokesman.

Last week, 15 empty coal cars and two locomotives of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train were derailed by a tornado in the Panhandle town of Hartley. No one was injured in the incident, but one of the cars ended up about 300 to 400 feet away.