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Toxic Fumes Threaten Western Ukraine after Train Crash
Toxic fumes are threatening thousands of residents in western Ukraine after a freight train derailed on Monday, releasing a cloud of toxic gas and leaving at least 20 people injured. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister called the accident “a second Chernobyl” after visiting the scene of the accident.
The train was en route from Kazakhstan to Poland when 15 of its tank cars with yellow phosphorus overturned 50 kilometers from the city of Lvov on Monday. Six of them caught fire, leaking toxic fumes and gas. The fire was put out several hours later.
Fumes of highly toxic yellow phosphorus covered 86 square kilometers around the scene of the accident. A total of 11,000 residents live in the affected area. Some 900 were evacuated at their own request, according to Lviv Region Deputy Governor Taras Batenko.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Kuzmuk visited the scene, calling the incident “a second Chernobyl” for Ukraine.
Twenty-one people were taken to hospital for poisoning. Authorities urge residents to use gas masks and remain indoors as yellow clouds of phosphorus are hanging over the area.
Meanwhile, a senior official in the region’s legislature assured Tuesday the situation was under control, blasting unofficial reports of the disastrous scale of the train crash.
Authorities have yet to establish the cause of the incident.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 18, 2007
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