TEXARKANA, Ark. — A train car transporting flammable gas derailed in a switchyard and exploded in a ball of fire Saturday, killing one person and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
A plume of smoke covered the south end of the city, and at least seven people went to hospital emergency rooms with respiratory problems.
Two homes were destroyed -- including one in which the victim died -- and several vehicles were totaled in the quarter-mile area surrounding the accident, police spokesman Chris Rankin said. A 209-foot-long railroad bridge also caught fire and was destroyed, a Union Pacific spokesman said.
The propylene tank was still burning Saturday evening, but the fire was under control and the smoke had thinned out, Rankin said.
