Investigators prepare to enter 'hot zone'
GRANITEVILLE -- Officials are donning their protective gear
and making plans to proceed with the investigation into the 300-meter "hot zone"
around the crash site of Thursday morning's train wreck that released deadly
chlorine gas.
Officials believe that one of the three tankers carrying
chlorine ruptured and that the other two cars are damaged but have not leaked.
"The extent of the damage has not yet been determined," said
Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern. "We'll do what we need to do to
meet the community's needs."
On Thursday night, the railroad pulled 25 undamaged railcars
away from the Graniteville crash site, where a two-locomotive train hauling 42
cars slammed into a parked train that morning.
Eight are known dead and more than 260 sought treatment for
exposure to the chlorine released because of the accident.
Twenty-five of the cars were loaded, including the three that
contained chlorine and others that contained sodium hydroxide and cresol.
The Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health has
representatives at First Presbyterian Church, 224 Barnwell Ave. in Aiken,
available to answer questions concerning chlorine and the other chemicals
spilled in the crash.
The names of the eight dead have been released by Aiken
County Coroner Tim Carlton.
They include Willie C. Shealey, 43, from Graniteville, and
John Laird, 24, employees at the Woodhead plant; Allen Frazier, 58, from Ridge
Spring, and Steven Bagby, 38, from Augusta, at the Gregg plant; and Fred Rusty
Rushton III, 41, from Graniteville, at the Stevens Steam plant.
A truck driver found dead was identified as Joseph L. Stone,
from Quebec, Canada.
Found dead in his home on Main Street was Tony DeLoach, 56.
Christopher Seely, a train engineer from West Columbia, also
died, Mr. Carlton said.
Fuente:
http://www.aikenonline.com/stories/010705/new_trainupdate.shtml
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