1,200 Tons Of Coal Dumped Into Thompson River (BC) - Fears For Fish

[hatrack]

YTTON -- Town residents were left wondering Tuesday what a 20-car train derailment near their town will mean to the health of salmon in the area, and to their white-water rafting industry.

Just after 11 p.m. Monday, 20 cars from a 124-car Canadian Pacific coal train travelling west to Vancouver left the track on a railway bridge over the Thompson River, near where it meets the Fraser. Eight of the cars remained on the bridge, but 12 plunged into the river below.

No one was hurt, but B.C. Environment Ministry spokesman Don McDonald noted each car had a carrying capacity of 100 tonnes, so it's possible as many as 1,200 tonnes of coal were dumped into the river.

On Tuesday, officials from both CP and CN, which share that stretch of track, as well as from the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, were at the scene trying to figure out what happened. "The cause has not yet been determined," CN spokesman Jim Feeny said Tuesday afternoon. "So at this point we cannot say what the problem is."

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=9eab7e32-b6bd-4a82-97a2-65c8f518607b&k=92063