Freight trains collision injures 7 people in Missouri

CHICAGO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Two freight trains collided at a rail intersection about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of St. Louis in Missouri Saturday morning, injuring seven people and collapsing a highway overpass.

The seven people injured, two personnel on the trains and five individuals in cars on the overpass higher, were treated for minor injuries and released.

The crash happened at around 2:00 a.m. when one train struck the side of the other one and caused it to derail, and the derailed train hit a pillar which caused the overpass to collapse, Scott County Sheriff's dispatcher Clay Slipis was quoted as saying by media. The collision of the BNSF Railway Co and Union Pacific trains also ignited a fire when diesel fuel leaked from one of the train engines, Slipis said.

Union Pacific said its train had been carrying auto parts from Illinois to Texas when it ran into the side of BNSF's south- heading 75-car-long freight train. A Union Pacific engineer and a conductor were slightly injured in the crash; while none of the BNSF crew was injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to investigate the train crash.