NEW IBERIA, La. — Two locomotives and 20 cars of a BNSF train derailed on Monday evening after the train struck a truck at a grade crossing near New Iberia.
While KLFY-TV reported one crew member had been taken to a hospital after the 5 p.m. incident, BNSF said in a Tuesday statement that no crew members were injured. The truck driver was uninjured. Three cars of acrylic acid were among those that derailed, but no leaks occurred; seven cars of polymer plastic also derailed with some spilling of their load, but authorities said that poses no hazard. Residents in the immediate area of the derailment were evacuated, but the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office reports the evacuation was lifted by late Monday night.
Video captured by a passer-by shows the truck partially blocking the grade crossing with a crossing gate arm resting on the cab moments before the collision occurs.
The incident occurred about 5 miles northwest of New Iberia and about a dozen miles southeast of central Lafayette, La., on BNSF’s Lafayette Subdivision.
— Updated at 6:20 p.m. CDT with information from BNSF.
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