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Train wreck unleashes toxic cloud in Ukraine

A burning cargo of phosphorous causes hundreds of evacuations over 35 square miles.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 18, 2007

KIEV, Ukraine - A freight train derailed and released a cloud of toxic gas that sent at least 20 people to hospitals, an accident that touched nerves still raw more than two decades after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.

Hundreds of people were evacuated and others fled their homes on their own after the Monday evening derailment sparked a fire in a cargo of yellow phosphorous, creating a cloud of gas that affected 14 villages in the former Soviet republic.

Twenty people were hospitalized, although their lives were not in danger, said Defense Ministry spokesman Ihor Halyavinsky. Authorities later said six had been released.

"A disaster has happened. After the Chernobyl catastrophe we are dealing with (another) case that can pose a real threat for our people," said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk. "It is an extraordinary event, the consequences of which cannot be predicted."

He later backtracked on the remark, and other officials took pains to stress that the situation was under control and the danger minimal.

"The cloud of a toxic gas dispersed, and there is no threat for people's lives," said Ihor Krol, spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry.

The train, en route from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed near Lviv, and 15 of its 58 cars overturned, Krol said. Six of them caught fire, and the poison cloud spread over a 35-square-mile area containing 14 villages, he said.

Rescuers extinguished the blaze.

Phosphorus compounds are chiefly used in fertilizers, although they are important components of pesticides, toothpaste and detergents as well as explosives and fireworks.

The highly toxic substance can cause liver damage if consumed.

Residents were advised to stay inside and not to use water from wells, eat vegetables from their gardens or drink milk produced by their cows. Of the 11,000 people living in the contaminated area, 815 were evacuated, Krol said.

[Last modified July 18, 2007, 01:45:19]