Train Derailment Kills Two, Spills Acid

A freight train derailed near a snowy pass high in the Rockies on Wednesday, killing two crew members and spilling thousands of gallons of sulfuric acid down a mountainside and across a highway.

Rescuers trudged through waist-deep snow to reach the wreckage of the Southern Pacific Railroad train near 10,400-foot Tennessee Pass, south of this village and 10 miles north of the historic mining town of Leadville.

“At this time we do not know what caused the derailment,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Andre, “but we are surmising snow may have played a major part in it.”

Nearly 2-1/2 feet of snow had fallen Tuesday night and more snow fell Wednesday, Andre said.

The National Weather Service said several avalanches were reported in the area. But sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Beavers said there was no obvious sign of an avalanche near the tracks.

It was the fifth major train accident in the United States this month.

The 82-car train was bound from East St. Louis, Ill., to Roseville, Calif., when it jumped the tracks before dawn. Both engines and 25 freight cars derailed, said Mike Furtney, a Southern Pacific Railroad spokesman.

The engineer and a student engineer were killed.