Two CSX employees were hospitalized when their train derailed after striking a landslide and caught fire on Thursday morning in Draffin, Kentucky.
The two crew members were reported to have non-life threatening injuries at Pikeville Medical Center.
In a statement, CSX said the southbound train had three locomotives, 96 loaded ethanol cars and two loaded sand cars.
CSX said five of the cars derailed, including four ethanol tanks and one sand car.
The train was reported to be the K429-11 and the derailment occurred on the Kingsport Subdivision five miles north of Elkhorn City.
Lead unit AC4400CW No. 198 plunged nose first into the Big Sandy River.
Eyewitness accounts said the two crew members escaped through the nose of the 198 and stood partly submerged in the water yelling for help.
One resident who heard the crew said they were saying one of them was injured would need to be evacuated by boat or helicopter.
A boat sent by the Millard Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter and got the crew members off the locomotive before fire reached it.
The landslide is thought to have been triggered by two weeks of rain in the area.
The railroad said it had sent environmental monitoring devices to the scene.
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet was sampling water near the derailment site to ensure that was safe to drink.
Two water districts, Mountain Water District and the City of Pikeville, were affected but had employees on site to monitor and control the impact.
The derailment occurred near intake facilities for the water systems.
“We got a 911 call of a train derailment just above the Draffin bridge, which is where we’re standing here, and the engines were on fire,” said an emergency official. “Where the fire was at the time near the derailment, because of the where the fire was, in case of explosion.”
A man who lives near the derailment site said he saw an orange glow and flames were leading 50 to 60 feet into the air. Draffin is located in Pike County.
After the fire died down, CSX crews pulled the non derailed cars away from the scene.
Another landslide occurred at the site and pushed a tank car into the river.