PHOENIX – Two staff members were injured after a chemical spill at a derailment in Tempe, the government said Friday.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., the contract was splashed with cyclohexanona as a pipe was unplugged, Tempe’s deputy fire deputy director Andrea Glass said at a press conference.
One of the staff members, a man in his 50s, was transported to a local burn center with serious but non-fatal injuries.
The other employee treated at the scene and released.
“We hope he does it temporarily and he can be released soon,” Glass said.
Glass said the government knew why the spill occurred, however, that warmth can be just one factor.
Cyclohexane is a pale, oily, poisonous and flammable liquid.
Glass said that about 10 gallons of liquid spilled as a result. The leak stopped at 2:30 p.m.
Two oil tankers carried the poisonous liquid in a Union Pacific exercise that crashed on a bridge on the south side of Tempe Town Lake at 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
Rail ties were damaged and the bridge collapsed. The cars fell through the breach and landed in an empty park.
Tempe’s police chief Sylvia Moir said Thursday that there is no evidence of criminal activity and that the investigation of the incident will continue.
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