Due to the preventive measures taken during the process, the transfer of sulfuric acid and chlorine that was being transported in six tanker trucks from the freight train that derailed on the night of September 3, will continue for days in the Samalayuca desert, reported Mauricio Alfredo Rodríguez Padilla, coordinator of State Civil Protection in the Northern Zone of Chihuahua.
The transfer of sulfuric acid began on Wednesday, September 11. On Thursday they were working on the third tanker and yesterday they continued with the acid, and then continued with the chlorine, but it will be a process that will take days, he said. “The transfer is not immediate,” because it must be done by trained personnel and only during the day, in order to prevent an accident. Damage Assessment Once the transfer is completed and the empty tankers are removed, the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection in Chihuahua (Profepa) will begin the assessment of the damage caused by the sulfuric acid spill, and later Mexican Railways (Ferromex) must present the report on the causes of the derailment. “There was no chlorine spill, we would not have all been there at the time when the chlorine mixed with the acid (it is dangerous), thank God there was none,” said the state official. “First, everything has to be removed from the site. An extra track was installed to be able to carry out the entire transfer service to the new tankers,” he said about the 700 meters on which dozens of workers from companies contracted by Ferromex focused. According to workers, although there is already train traffic to the city, it is not the same as it is regularly, so when the work is finished, the damaged section of track will be repaired again, since the one built is temporary. There is already train traffic, but it is gradual, it is not the typical traffic that we regularly have.
The facts
Minutes before 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 3, six railcars and six tank trucks derailed on the side of Estación Médanos, at kilometer 302 of the Pan-American Highway from Ahumada to Juárez. The accident caused the death of Aaron, a 4-year-old Venezuelan boy; the amputation of the right foot of his 28-year-old mother; blows to his father and his 7-year-old brother; and the fracture of the lower jaw of a 17-year-old teenager who was traveling alone from Nicaragua.
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