Two Killed In Ohio When Three Freight Trains Collide

Three freight trains crashed into each other early Sunday, killing two crew members and derailing cars over a quarter-mile of tracks near Bryan, Ohio.

One engine burned for hours and the wreckage blocked a main railroad route between the East and Chicago. A handful of homes in Bryan, about 50 miles west of Toledo, were evacuated for several hours.

Fog limited visibility during the 2 a.m. crash, Jay Kivowitz, investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference in Napoleon. He said it was too early to determine a cause.

Dozens of freight cars and pieces of broken train parts were scattered across the two tracks that run parallel through the flat farmland of northwest Ohio.

A train taking mail from Morrisville, Pa., to Chicago hit another westbound train carrying trailers and containers from Boston to Chicago, said Bim McGeehan, a spokesman for Philadelphia-based Conrail. The victims were on the mail train.

A third train, with 50 empty cars, hit debris from the crash. The train was traveling east from Portage, Ind., to River Rouge, Mich., near Detroit, McGeehan said.

Sixteen cars from the three trains derailed in the accident.