20 cars of Norfolk Southern cargo train derail in Ohio

About 20 cars of a Norfolk Southern cargo train derailed near Springfield on Saturday evening, the second derailment of the company's trains in Ohio in a month, officials said.

But unlike the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a company spokesperson said there were no hazardous materials aboard the train, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

The train, which did not have passengers, derailed around 5pm on Saturday by State Route 41, near the Clark County Fairgrounds, the Dispatch reported. Springfield is about 46 miles (74 km) west of the state capital of Columbus, Ohio.

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The 20 cars of the 212-car train derailed while traveling south, the Norfolk Southern spokesperson said.

Shawn Heaton told the Springfield News-Sun that he was waiting at the intersection as the train crossed the intersection and captured the start of the derailment on video.

A Norfolk Southern cargo train car leans off the tracks after derailing in Clark County, Ohio on Saturday. AP

"I was right there and I was playing on my phone and then I heard a loud bang. And when I heard the loud bang, I started recording,” Heaton said. "When I heard the bang, there was all kinds of debris and metal shoot out from under the cars and that’s when I started recording and you could see them start jumping off the tracks.”

The Clark County Emergency Management Agency has asked residents within 1,000 feet of the derailment to shelter in place, but the agency said it has not issued formal evacuation orders.

In an update at 8:50 p.m. EDT, the agency said officials are working to make sure that no hazardous materials were involved.

On Feb. 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, in northeast Ohio near Pennsylvania, derailed and several of the train's cars carrying hazardous materials burned.

Though no one was injured, nearby neighborhoods in both states were imperiled. The crash prompted an evacuation of about half the town’s roughly 5,000 residents, an ongoing multigovernmental emergency response and lingering worries among villagers of long-term health impacts.

Associated Press