Crews repairing tracks after NC derailment

BAKERSVILLE, N.C. — Crews worked to clear wreckage from a train derailment in the western North Carolina mountains.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that 20 cars of a CSX freight train derailed early Wednesday west of Bakersville and that some fell within feet of the North Toe River.

Mitchell County Emergency Management Director Eric Wiseman said no one was hurt. Three houses were evacuated until officials determined that ethanol and propane containers on the train still were sealed.

CSX spokesman Rob Sullivan said it would take crews through Thursday to clear the area and that damaged tracks also had to be repaired.

The 89-car train was en route from Russell, Ky., to Hamlet and derailed around the 36th car.

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