Jun 22, 2009 8:31 pm US/Central
Couple: 911 Call Should Have Stopped Rail Disaster
ROCKFORD, Ill. (CBS) ―
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This massive, raging fire followedd the derailment and explosion of a train carrying ethanol near Rockford on Friday, June 19.
CBS
There is anger and frustration over a deadly train derailment and explosion in Rockford that some say should have been prevented.
Rescue crews rushed to the scene Friday night and found an inferno. One woman stopped at the crossing died as she tried to run away from the flames and explosions. Two others are in the hospital.
CBS 2's Mike Parker talked to a couple who called 911 before the derailment, to warn authorities about trouble on the tracks.
"How effective is 911?" Sharon Opsahl asked. "I thought it was to be for all emergencies, and now it just makes me wonder."
It now appears that
the fiery derailment of the freight train loaded with thousands of gallons of ethanol might have been prevented. A full hour before it happened Friday night, there was at least one frantic 911 call warning an operator that heavy rains had washed out the rail bed.
A local couple in their SUV, Gene and Sharon Opsahl of Rockford, made the call by cell phone as they watched the roaring rainfall.
"I said 'If a train comes through here, you're going to be in big trouble because the road bed is gone underneath the track.' She said 'I know who to call and I'll make the call,'" Gene Opsahl said.
The local sheriff said it is unclear what happened to that information.
"We're looking at phone calls we received prior to (the accident), we're looking at what we did with those phone calls, what information was passed on, who was it passed on to," Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers said.
When it was over, a woman who was parked at the rail crossing was killed. Two others were seriously burned.
Gene Opsahl said he was flabbergasted that the accident occurred, given the call he made.
"It was very staggering," his wife said. "Perhaps somebody could be alive now."
Gene Opsahl says he gave a formal statement to the sheriff's office Monday. Neither the National Transportation Safety Board nor the Canadian National Railway is talking about the warning.
Federal investigators say the train was accelerating at the time of the derailment but its speed -- 34-miles per hour -- was not excessive.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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