Ohio crews release toxic chemicals from derailed freight train to avert explosion after evacuation
Rail crews in Ohio have been burning off toxic chemicals from a freight train that derailed last week, after ordering nearly 2,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
The train, operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad and consisting of three locomotives and 150 freight cars, was travelling from Illinois to Pennsylvania when it derailed shortly before 9pm on Friday.
The incident set off a huge fire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the immediate vicinity.
The controlled detonation of a section of the derailed train. Pic: AP
About 50 cars actually left the tracks, 20 of which carried hazardous materials, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Public safety concerns deepened after officials said pressure-relief devices on some tankers were found on Sunday to have stopped working, which the company said could “result in a catastrophic failure”.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in a statement the chemical contents of the five rail cars in question were “unstable and could potentially explode, causing deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes”.
A plan was made to perform a controlled release of the cars under the supervision of experts and emergency officials.
The venting of vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and carcinogenic gas, began with a single explosion, followed by a steady incineration of the remaining cargo, said Sandy Mackey, a spokesperson for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
The tankers lying across the tracks
Live video on Monday showed a towering column of thick, black smoke rising from the accident site in East Palestine, Ohio, a village close to the Pennsylvania border northwest of Pittsburgh.
No injuries were reported from the operation or the incident itself, authorities said.
Peggy Clark, a spokesperson for the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, said the mandatory evacuation covered an estimated 1,900 people on the Ohio side alone.
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Mr DeWine’s office warned that fumes released into the air from the venting operation could be deadly if inhaled, while also posing the risk of skin burns and serious lung damage.
Vinvyl chloride is a colourless, industrially produced gas that burns easily and is used primarily in the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe and other products, according to the National Cancer Institute.
It also is a by-product of cigarette smoke.
The pop of flash bangs and the drawing of rubber bullet launchers by police sent protesters scattering down streets in downtown LA during a fourth day of demonstrations against Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Dozens of National Guard – America’s reserve force – carrying shields and long guns, created a perimeter around a federal building as protesters angrily shouted at them.
“National Guard out of LA,” they chanted, followed by a chorus of “shame, shame, shame”.
The arrival of National Guard troops on the streets, with a total of 4,000 now deployed by President Trump against the wishes of California governor Gavin Newsom, seems to have escalated tensions.
Another 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines are heading to Los Angeles on orders from US President Donald Trump
First and second-generation immigrants tell Sky News they have to ‘defend’ LA
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass described her city as a “test case” for Trump usurping the authority of local governments.
The news that 700 marines were also being mobilised, ready to deploy, was viewed by Democratic politicians as not just a gross overreaction to the situation but a cynical political ploy by the White House to stoke trouble.
Trump says they are needed to restore law and order.
As it happened: 700 marines to be deployed in LA
Crowd control explosions were being deployed from the rooftops of the federal buildings towards protesters in a plaza below in a bid to disperse the crowd.
Many of those gathering are first and second-generation immigrants, mostly from Central and South America.
They are furious about the raids that took place last week. Dozens of immigrants were rounded up in LA’s garment district, an area packed with clothing wholesalers.
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Downtown LA is a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness
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Pandemonium and lawlessness on streets of LA
Bryanna Ordonez, 17, was protesting with friends. Her dad was among the 44 people arrested in the raids. He’d lived here – illegally – for more than 10 years.
“My father got deported on 6 June,” she said, holding back tears. “I’m here protesting for him and two of my uncles that were deported.
“Our parents worked so hard to get us here today just to be taken from us because they wanted us to have a better life. It’s so unfair.”
Bryanna Ordonez, 17, tells Sky News her dad was among 44 people arrested in Friday’s raids
Giovanni Garcia is from South Central LA. His mother emigrated from Mexico 26 years ago, but she only received her Green Card last year.
“Everyone says LA is an immigrant city, and it is,” says Giovanni. “You go to Chinese restaurants, they have Hispanic workers in the back.
“You know, you go to the clothing companies, they have Hispanics working. Like, this is our city, and we have to stand here and defend it.”
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As dusk fell, the crowds thinned on the streets. A remaining hardcore of demonstrators were backed into a corner of downtown LA known as Little Tokyo.
As night fell, an hours-long standoff between police and protesters took place next to a pagoda and with the backdrop of a giant mural of LA Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani, before, eventually, a number of them were arrested.
LA is a city known for sporting prowess, multiculturalism and a long history of resistance movements – the immigration protests of 2025 now among them.
A shirtless man waving a Mexican flag stands atop a burning car in the heart of Los Angeles, as another man throws a traffic cone into the flames and some play drums and shout chants in opposition to immigration officials.
In the background, city hall can be glimpsed through a haze of thick black smoke.
The downtown district of one of America’s biggest cities was a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness as protests, which had previously been mainly peaceful, turned ugly.
Critics of Donald Trump said the president’s extraordinary decision to deploy National Guard troops, defying the wishes of the state’s governor, had inflamed tensions and stoked emotions.
A protester throws a cone into a burning fire in LA. Pic: Reuters/Daniel Cole
The 101 Freeway, the main highway cutting through the downtown area, was also closed down for much of the day as police and protesters faced off, with flash bang devices sending some people scattering.
Bottles and other projectiles were hurled towards police, who responded by using tear gas and rubber bullets.
It was this chaos, his critics say, that Donald Trump wanted to provoke.
California Highway Patrol officers try to dodge rocks being thrown. Pic: AP/Ethan Swope
Trump’s decision to call in 2,000 National Guard troops, several hundred of whom were on the streets of LA on Sunday, was taken without consultation with the California governor and LA mayor, and marked an extraordinary escalation by the president.
The military arrived on Sunday morning and was ordered to guard federal buildings, after two days of protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
As part of Trump’s closed border policy, ICE has been ordered to find, detain and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible, and it was these raids that stoked the first signs of protest on Friday into the weekend.
Smoke rises as the National Guard clashed with protesters in downtown Los Angeles.
Pic: Reuters/Daniel Cole
By midday Sunday, the military was surrounded by protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre in downtown LA. It was here that many immigrants had been held before being shipped off to detention facilities.
The walls and floors are covered in expletive-ridden graffiti, reading f*** ICE.
The Los Angeles police soon split the crowd and drove a wedge between the National Guard and the crowd.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has called Donald Trump’s acts those of a “dictator, not a president”.
A police officer fires a soft round in Los Angeles. Pic: AP Photo/Eric Thayer
Los Angeles Metro Police officers strike protesters during unrest in the downtown area of the city.
Pic: Reuters/Daniel Cole
He’s formally requested that the Trump administration withdraw the National Guard. The White House say the military will remain there until order is restored. Five hundred marines are still on standby.
Los Angeles Police Department police chief Jim McDonnell, asked whether the National Guard was needed, said: “This thing has gotten out of control.”
He said that although the LAPD would not initially have requested assistance from the National Guard, the disorder had caused him to reevaluate his assessment.
US correspondent Martha Kelner is reporting from Los Angeles
Several people were arrested.
Sky News witnessed a young woman, who called herself Gabriella, riding her motorbike at speed towards a line of police officers.
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One of the police officers used his arm to push her off the bike. She said she was protesting because her “people were being rounded up.”
Politicians on both sides of the aisle condemned the violence, but some vehemently disagreed about what actions led to the escalation.
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