A train derailed near Highway 3 in Tunica County yesterday, with the Tunica County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) responding to the incident around 3:30 p.m. The derailment, located near Prichard, involved multiple overturned train cars, including cattle cars and other vehicles, although no injuries to the two train employees on board were reported. According to Action News 5, the train is operated by Canadian National Railway (CN Railway), and there was no spill of hazardous materials.
Danielle Lentz, an employee at the ARRF animal rescue situated near the derailment site, described the frightening scene to WREG, "I saw the trees start to go. I started to run up toward the front because I thought the train was going to come toward us, but thankfully, it did not cross the service road. The ditch stopped it." Lentz also recounted how rocks started to rapidly fly at them as the train cars went off the tracks, with the vehicles landing less than 100 feet from the animal rescue's yard.
The TCSO quickly assured the public of no immediate risk via social media statements. Despite two of the train cars carrying hazardous material, these were not among the cars that derailed. CN Railway personnel are on site, supporting the investigation into the cause of the derailment, a process joined by the Transportation Safety Board. This information has been confirmed by both Local Memphis and WREG.
Following the accident, Lentz and a co-worker quickly acted to ensure the safety of those involved. "As soon as it happened, one of my co-workers and I ran up there to make sure the conductors were okay and they didn’t have any injuries," Lentz told WREG. The extent of the damage to the tracks and the precise sequence of events leading up to the derailment remain under scrutiny, as officials seek to unravel what went awry. With more than 20 cars thrown from the rails, the repercussions will likely reverberate through local transit and the schedules of CN Railway for some time.
