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West Virginia: 1,000 Evacuated After Oil Train Derails

HeadlineFeb 17, 2015

A CSX train carrying more than 100 cars of crude oil has derailed in West Virginia, sending a massive fireball into the sky and forcing 1,000 people to evacuate. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has declared a state of emergency. At least 14 tankers and a house caught fire, and at least one car went into the Kanawha River, where it was leaking oil. The train was transporting oil from the Bakken shale in North Dakota, where a fracking boom has increased oil-by-rail shipments more than 4,000 percent in recent years. The incident came after another oil train derailed in Ontario, Canada, Saturday night, sparking a fire that was still burning on Monday.

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