A cargo train derailed Tuesday in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland and an explosion could be heard for several kilometers, severely damaging nearby buildings and setting them on fire, officials and witnesses said. The train derailed in White March, about 16 kilometers northeast of Baltimore. A fire-department spokeswoman said she did not know if there were any injuries. Hazardous-materials (hazmat) teams responded to the scene, Baltimore County authorities said. Video from a helicopter broadcast on local television showed several train cars derailed, and two or three cars on fire and emitting a huge plume of black smoke. A damaged truck on a road crossing the train tracks suggested that the train may have derailed after hitting the truck. The truck was entering or exiting from a compound housing a warehouse or manufacturing building whose side facing the train tracks was blown off and on fire. The fact that police were calmly investigating the road-track intersection about 200 meters from the burning train cars indicated that the cargo on fire was not toxic.
