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There weren’t any injuries or deaths reported after a 31-car train derailment near Guernsey on Thursday.
Marlo Pritchard, the president of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said the train comprised 104 cars. Twelve are still burning at the scene of the derailment.
“We will be working with local first responders and other ministries as this evolves over the next number of hours,” Pritchard said.
The derailment is located approximately 10 kilometres east of the derailment from Dec. 10 that sent 33 oil tank cars off the rails and released 1.5 million litres of oil.
Highway 16 remained closed Thursday afternoon. Barricades and detour signs are in place.
The RM of Usborne declared a state of emergency and asked the 85 residents of Guernsey to evacuate a few hours after the train wreck.
Pritchard couldn’t guess when residents would be allowed to return, but said an emergency declaration could be extended up to seven days.
“Right now, the focus is on fire suppression. If the smoke situation changes, I’m sure the residents would be allowed to go home, because right now it’s about air quality,” Pritchard said.
In a news release issued Thursday afternoon, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) confirmed the train cars were carrying crude oil.
“There is no impact to waterways. Immediately after the derailment, CP implemented a slow order on its crude trains as a precautionary measure as it gathers facts related to this incident,” the statement read.
Since then, federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau announced speed restrictions on trains carrying dangerous goods.
The ministerial order will require trains with 20 or more cars carrying dangerous goods to reduce speeds to no more than 40 kilometres per hour; the order will stay in effect for the next 30 days.
“Until we better understand the facts relating to today’s incident, it is prudent to operate with an abundance of caution. We equally share Minister Garneau’s concerns, and remain committed to safe operations, as we always have been,” CP President and CEO Keith Creel said in a statement.
The Transport Safety Board of Canada is investigating the crash.
– With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray and the Canadian Press