Colorado train derails, spilling train cars and coal onto a highway and trapping a semi-truck driver
Associated Press
PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — A train derailment and bridge collapse Sunday spewed coal and mangled train cars across a highway near Pueblo, Colorado, trapping a semi-truck driver beneath the wreckage, the Colorado State Patrol said.
Efforts were underway to rescue the truck driver, state patrol spokesperson Gary Cutler said, although police did not immediately know the driver’s condition or if other drivers were involved.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators to the site about 114 miles (183 km) south of Denver.
The state patrol and Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office posted photos and videos showing a partially collapsed bridge over the interstate with the semi-truck caught beneath. The images also show a pileup of train cars, train wheels scattered across the scene and loads of coal covering a portion of the highway.
It was unclear when the bridge collapsed, Cutler said.
Officials were directing drivers to avoid the area coal and train cars were removed from the road.
A railroad bridge collapse in southern Montana in June sent railcars with oil products plunging into the Yellowstone River, spilling molten sulfur and up to 250 tons (226.7 metric tons) of hot asphalt.
