Woman Killed Fleeing Ill. Train Derailment, Blast

CHRISTINA M. WRIGHT

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — Railroad tank cars holding thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol derailed and exploded in flames, killing a 41-year-old woman as she tried to run to safety from a car stopped at a crossing.

Three other people from the same car escaped with severe burns. Hundreds of people were evacuated from homes near the explosion.

Eighteen tank cars, all filled with ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, derailed Friday on the edge of Rockford, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.

The wreckage burned through the night, but the fire was extinguished by Saturday evening, leaving a blackened collection of rail cars piled on top of one another. Crews are expected to use cranes to remove the cars from the tracks for inspection later Saturday.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Robert Sumwalt said investigators wouldn't speculate about what may have caused the derailment. A thorough investigation could take a year, he said.

Investigators will look into the train crew's performance, the train's mechanical components, signals, the integrity of the cars containing ethanol and the emergency response, Sumwalt said.