The National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators to Ohio today after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed there over the weekend, prompting calls to shelter in place before authorities announced the wreck was not hazardous.
“Local, state first responders confirm no hazardous materials found at train derailment site in Clark County,” the Clark County Emergency Management Agency wrote in its latest update on Facebook early Sunday.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine also tweeted about the Springfield derailment, saying: “We don’t believe hazardous materials were involved.”
DeWine said Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency and Emergency Management Agency and Highway Patrol were on the scene Saturday night offering assistance to first responders.
The news comes just one month after another Norfolk Southern train derailment across the state in East Palestine, Ohio, put the company under intense scrutiny over hazardous materials that seeped into the town.
Authorities at a Sunday news conference once again sought to assure the local community that the air, water and soil are safe. Meanwhile, crews in East Palestine are still working to clear contaminated soil and liquid from the toxic wreck that occurred on February 3.
