About 50 train cars derailed in northwest Iowa on Sunday, leaving wreckage and billowing black smoke that led authorities to evacuate a nearby town.
The massive derailment happened at about 2 p.m. on Sunday on the southwest side of Sibley, a small town of about 3,000 people that sits nearly 200 miles northwest of Des Moines. No injuries have been reported from the incident.
Images from the accident show flames and dozens of train cars piled along the tracks with a large plume of smoke stemming from one end of the pileup. Local media stations said authorities evacuated an area within five miles of the derailment, according to the Associated Press.
IOWA HOUSE AND SENATE BAN CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Drone video obtained by @Reuters showed the Union Pacific train carriages scattered on a track with some parts on fire near the city of Sibley, Iowa. The city fire chief told local radio that the train was carrying fertilizer and ammonium https://t.co/Ilu4Rg5yE4 pic.twitter.com/Pk3VUbAMUh
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2021
Robynn Tysver, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific, said the total number of rail cars that came off the tracks was about 47. She added that no crew members were injured and that the railroad is cooperating with local authorities.
One witness told the Des Moines Register that the smoke “was filling up a couple hundred feet,” according to a drone video taken of the accident.
Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls told KIWA radio that the train was hauling fertilizer and ammonium nitrate.
Sibley City Administrator Glenn Anderson told the Washington Examiner the evacuation order is still in place as firefighters continued to douse the flames of a fire on Monday. The order will not be lifted until the surrounding area is safe for residents to return, Anderson said.
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Union Pacific did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
