Arpita Sarkar, February 21, 2023
Feb 3, 2023 is yet another day marked in history as the so called cherbony 2 disaster day. The incident occurred in east Palastine, Ohio after train derailment happened and fire broke out.
50 train cars carrying chemicals primarily vinyl chloride was spilled in air resulting in black plume casting an ominous shadow all over the town.
What makes the spill of vinyl chloride of more concern is it being a highly flammable and carcinogenic gas used mainly for PVC that is used in plastic and is byproducts of cigarette smoke. It can be linked to liver cancer, leukemia and lung cancer.
Emergency crews were called to control the release of vinyl chloride because the derailment itself set afire. Besides, burning of vinyl chloride caused huge plumes of black smoke high into the sky.
The incident not being reported by mainstream media was highly criticized by the locals of the USA. Many humans and wildlife were impacted followed by pets were found ill and fish floating in creeks.
Representatives of Northfolk Southern Railway company’s three more derailment accidents came to light which now raises the regulation authority’s safety norms. Report shows about 10 to 20 derailment cases cause spilling of toxic substances happen annually among 1000 of such derailment cases.
Lawsuits have been filed and pollution control regulatory needs are highly looked forward by people.
