WILMINGTON, Ohio (AP) -- A CSX train derailed Sunday, spilling a hazardous chemical into a creek and forcing evacuations at a state park. Another train owned by the rail line jumped the tracks in Florida.
Sixteen cars of a 68-car train derailed near Wilmington, and an unknown amount of sodium hydroxide solution spilled from one tanker, said CSX Transportation spokeswoman Kathy Burns.
The creek feeds into a lake at nearby Cowan Lake State Park, where about 30 people were sent to a hospital to be checked out. They were determined to be unharmed.
Emergency workers were using sand to contain the spill; the chemical solution is used to make paper, soap and fabrics.
Most of the derailed cars contained paper, Burns said, adding that the train was headed from Buffalo, N.Y., to Cincinnati. Wilmington is about 60 miles southwest of Columbus.
Also Sunday, a CSX freight train carrying refrigerated containers of Tropicana orange juice derailed in Florida, sending the cartons spilling onto the track, authorities said.
Thirty of the train's refrigerated cars came off the track just north of Ocala, said Paul Nevels, Marion County fire rescue battalion chief. No one was hurt.
The 61-car train was bound for Jacksonville from Tampa, Burns said.
``We take each one of these things very seriously and we do a very thorough investigation,'' she said.
Last month, CSX employees raced to finally catch a runaway train that traveled 66 miles through northwest Ohio at speeds close to 50 mph. The train got away when an engineer mistakenly hit the throttle instead of a brake.
CSX Transportation Inc., the largest railroad on the East Coast, covers 23 states. It is based in Jacksonville, Fla., and is a subsidiary of CSX Corp., based in Richmond, Va.
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