Shocking drone footage has revealed the devastating aftermath in Ohio where a train derailed leading to hazardous chemicals being released in East Palestine.
The footage shot by Zachary Riter of Rubber City Drones LLS, a week after the tragic incident, showed cars scattered off the tracks, surrounded by scorched buildings.
Numerous workers and cranes could be seen in the video, working alongside tracks to clean the site.
“No workers had PPE, and we smelled no odd smells,” the aerial photographers told The Independent. “They need major assistance... It should be considered a disaster zone.”
"I have seen only one photographer with PPE. And once she noticed the workers weren’t wearing anything she removed her PPE," Mr Riter told Newsweek.
The train of three locomotives and 150 freight cars was headed from Illinois to Pennsylvania when it derailed after suffering a broken axle in East Palestine on 3 February. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said 20 of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, including 10 that derailed. Thirty-eight cars in total left the tracks and the ensuing fire damaged an additional 12, said the agency.
Due to the risk of a chemical explosion, a controlled burn of the materials was carried out around the area.
Meanwhile, residents of the Ohio village upended by the derailment packed a school gym to seek answers about whether they were safe from toxic chemicals that spilled or were burned off.
Hundreds of worried people gathered in East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania state line, to hear state officials insist yet again that testing showed local air was safe to breathe. They promised that air and water monitoring would continue.
With the community in the national spotlight, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan is slated to visit the site on Thursday to assess the ongoing response and hear from impacted residents.
Those attending Wednesday’s informational session, which was originally billed as a town hall meeting, had many questions over health hazards, and they demanded more transparency from railroad operator Norfolk Southern, which did not attend, citing safety concerns for its staff.
"They just danced around the questions a lot," said Danielle Deal, who lives a few miles from the derailment site. "Norfolk needed to be here."
In a statement, Norfolk Southern said it didn’t attend alongside local, state and federal officials because of a "growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event".
Nearly two weeks after the derailment, people in the area have many concerns about the huge plumes of smoke they saw, persisting odors, risks to pets and wild animals, potential effects on drinking water and what’s happening with the cleanup.
Even as school resumed and trains were rolling again, people were worried.
"Why are they being hush-hush?" Kathy Dyke said of the railroad. "They’re not out here supporting, they’re not out here answering questions. For three days we didn’t even know what was on the train."
"I have three grandbabies," she said. "Are they going to grow up here in five years and have cancer? So those are all factors that play on my mind."
In and around East Palestine, residents said they wanted assistance navigating the financial help the railroad has offered hundreds of families who evacuated, and they want to know whether it will be held responsible for what happened.
Ohio attorney general Dave Yost advised Norfolk Southern that his office is considering legal action against the rail operator.
"The pollution, which continues to contaminate the area around East Palestine, created a nuisance, damage to natural resources and caused environmental harm," Mr Yost said in a letter to the company.
The state’s Environmental Protection Agency said the latest tests show five wells supplying the village’s drinking water are free from contaminants. But the EPA also recommended testing for private water wells because they are closer to the surface.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated spilled contaminants affected more than seven miles (11.2km) of streams and killed some 3,500 fish, mostly small ones such as minnows and darters.
There have been anecdotal reports that pets and livestock have been sickened. No related animal deaths have been confirmed, state officials said, but that confirmation would require necropsies and lab work to determine the connection to the incident.
Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it is creating a $1m fund to help the community of some 4,700 people while continuing remediation work, including removing spilled contaminants from the ground and streams and monitoring air quality.
It also will expand how many residents can be reimbursed for their evacuation costs, covering the entire village and surrounding area.
"We will be judged by our actions," Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement that the company is "cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way."
Additional reporting from the wires
