‘Creeks filled with dead fish’ spark alarm among locals over chemical leak in US disaster

The Northern Southern freight train careened off the tracks after suffering from a broken axle, officials confirmed. Following the crash, residents in the small town of East Palestine are continuing to deal with the environmental and health consequences of the train derailment.

Officials confirmed that chemicals from the derailment have seeped into the Ohio River basin, potentially affecting 25 million people.

Vinyl chloride was being carried in around 20 carriages, which is used to make plastic pipes, wires, cable coating, car parts and packaging, and spilt out into the rural town.

The substance is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer, hepatic angiosarcoma, along with primary liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma and leukaemia, according to Cancer.gov.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene and sent five tankers containing vinyl chloride into an excavated trench where they carried out a controlled burn to prevent an explosion – this caused noxious black clouds to billow into the atmosphere.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1734861/ohio-palestine-train-derailment-dead-fish-frogs-us-chemicals-leak-dxus