PUEBLO, Colo. — The driver of a semi truck was killed when a bridge collapsed Sunday as a result of a BNSF coal-train derailment that has closed Interstate 25, Colorado’s main north-south highway, near Pueblo.
An image from a Colorado State Patrol post on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, shows the train derailed at a bridge crossing I-25 just north of Pueblo, with a truck pinned under the bridge. A State Patrol spokesman announced Sunday night that the driver had died, the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper reports. KMGH-TV reports the driver has been identifed by the Pueblo County Coroner as Lafollette Henderson, 60, of Compton, Calif. A Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office representative said no other vehicles were involved; authorities had not initially been sure there were no cars under the derailed railcars.
The train involved had five locomotives and 124 cars, of which 30 cars derailed.
A BNSF representative said in a statement to Trains News Wire that the derailment occurred about 4:30 p.m. Central time, or 3:30 p.m. Mountain time. No injuries to the train crew were reported and the cause is under investigation. The Chieftain reports National Transportation Safety Board investigators are due to arrive on the scene today. The Washington Post quotes an NTSB spokeswoman as saying the agency will examine the bridge and its maintenance.
The derailment occurred near highway mile marker 107. Approximately 12 miles of I-25 have been closed, with detours in place; the State Patrol says to expect an extended closure. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Monday that work to clear the highway could not begin until the NTSB allows it to proceed and that the process of clearing debris could take up to 48 hours once it begins.
It was the second derailment of the weekend for BNSF. The railroad indicates in a customer advisory that a train derailed near Aberdeen, S.D., at 10:21 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, and that the line was expected to be reopened by 5:30 p.m. CDT today.
— Updated at 7:50 p.m. CDT with statement from BNSF, and information on earlier derailment in South Dakota; updated Oct. 16 at 7:15 a.m. with fatality and other information; updated at 2:38 p.m. with additional details; updated at 6:20 p.m. with identification of driver killed and additional details.
