8 DEAD! 5,400Residents Evacuated and 320 people were treated! SC/USA!

[KoKo]

UPDATE...DAYS LATER!
GAS THREAT LINGERS
Evacuation order continues for hundreds in affected areas


GRANITEVILLE--Hundreds of evacuated residents who live in homes surrounding the site of a deadly train derailment that continued to leak poisonous chlorine gas Friday may not be able to return home for another week.

An evacuation order will remain in effect for at least three more days, and perhaps up to seven, said Lt. Michael Frank, spokesman for the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.

At least eight people died after a Norfolk Southern train that included three tank cars of chlorine derailed near the Avondale Mills textile plant early Thursday.

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A National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman said officials did not yet know what caused the crash. The FBI, among other agencies, was investigating. Autopsies determined that all eight victims died of chlorine inhalation, said Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton.


Some 5,400 area residents were evacuated. About a dozen people, however, refused to leave their homes, Frank said. Some 100 officers went door to door Thursday to warn out any remaining residents, but they could not legally force people from their homes, he said.

Aside from the deaths, more than 320 people were treated at six area hospitals, mostly for breathing difficulty and eye irritation. Of those, about 70 were admitted. Frank did not know how many remained in hospitals Friday or their conditions.


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