Two train containers fell into the Mississippi River during a train derailment in southwestern Wisconsin on Thursday. According to Marc Myhre, who is the emergency management specialist in Crawford County, the train was carrying hazardous materials that may have been batteries, as reported by Independent. He also said that the train cars with hazardous materials were not the ones that fell into the river. BNSF Railway, the train operator said that some of the numerous containers that derailed but did not fall into the water carried paint and lithium-ion batterie, as reported by CNN.
According to the railway, all the crew members of the train were accounted for in the aftermath, but atleast one member was given medical attention. The railway told CNN that it was sending staff to the disaster site and will be starting an inquiry to determine what went wrong.
Around 12:15 p.m. local time, the train derailed outside of the tiny village of De Soto. De Soto is split between Crawford and Vernon counties and is directly across the river from Iowa. Myhre said that that while heavy rains had pushed the Mississippi River close to flood stage in certain areas, the train tracks where the incident happened were above the water on Thursday afternoon.