23 April 2007
Engineer of Derailed Train Missing in B.C.
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Local residents who saw the train roaring downhill said they
were amazed at its speed.
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Trail British Columbia - Officials are still searching for the engineer of a runaway CP Rail train that derailed Monday in southeastern B.C.
Two other crew members jumped off the train as it roared down the hill into the Kootenay city of Trail, said RCMP Staff Sgt. Nick Romanchuck.
"They received minor injuries, and the third person, the engineer, is currently unaccounted for, although we have conducted quite an extensive search for him," Romanchuck said Monday.
Local residents who saw the train roaring downhill said they were amazed at the speed of the train.
"I knew it was a runaway train, I've lived up there for over 30 years and I've never seen a train go past that fast," said one woman.
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The train's fertilizer cars ran off the
track.
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"It was probably doing about 60 miles an hour," said another onlooker. "He just laid on the horn and it was rumbling, and it was like a streak flying through there."
The two engines roared over the trestle bridge that crosses the highway, before toppling over, just a short distance from the largest lead and zinc smelter in the world.
Eight of the train's 11 ammonia and fertilizer cars also went off the tracks.
The train's fertilizer cars derailed, stopping just a few metres from the highway, spilling fertilizer. Behind them, the empty ammonia tankers stayed on the rails.
Teck Cominco said there was no damage to the smelter. Government environment officials said they had no serious concerns about the ammonium sulfate fertilizer that spilled.
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