Freight train derails in Bensalem, Pa.; at least 10 cars off the tracks

Good afternoon. I'm Sarah Bloomquist along with Gray Hall. We're coming on the air to bring you breaking news. A train derailment has happened in Ben Salem Bucks County. We're going to go live now to chopper six. This is happening between street road and the Chamonix Falls train station in Ben Salem. There are, as you can see here, a number of train cars that have come off the track. It's all happening around 2 20. You are looking at these live images coming into our newsroom. You're watching this along with us at this time. There is a report of 5 to 10 derail freight cars. You can see several right there on the screen at this point. Not clear who owns these tracks or what company this train may be tied to. That is something that we're working to get for you. Currently assessing the contents of that train and what was in those cars at this point. That information is not clear. We do know there is a hazmat team on the way here. That could be just for a precautionary measure. We have heard some information that there may be hazardous materials in a couple of these train cars that has not been confirmed yet. It's unclear how or why this happened. But if you look quite closely, you can see the train tracks are actually sort of in a shambles there. They're they're all apart there in this area where this train has derailed in Ben Salem. There is a shelter in place order for residents here in this area. We're not sure how populated this is. There were did look like a couple businesses nearby. It's not too far, as I said, from the Chamonix Falls train station. But you are urged to stay away from this area here in Ben Salem. And as this is, of course, breaking news, not clear about injuries. And again, authorities when they get to the scene, of course, they're gonna try to figure out what caused this to happen. That's gonna be some time in the future before they can figure that out. But the initial report saying about 5 to 10 cars derailed there and just looking at the about maybe five or six cars that we're seeing here that derailed from the tracks here again, as Sarah was saying, not clear how this happened or why this happened. But we do have a crew on the way to this scene. This live image coming in from Ben Salem of this train derailment again. What we're hearing is this happened around 2 20 this afternoon. It does. This is, of course, does not look like a passenger train. This looks like a freight train carrying loads of different goods and perhaps some fluids there on some of those train cars as well. But we don't know who exactly owns this train at the moment. It is true, though, that through the northeast corridor, multiple types of trains use these tracks. So we'll have to see what the impact is on train travel throughout the region as a result of this. Yeah, as we look at these live images coming in from shops for six, what I guess if there's any good news about this is this is in a wooded area. Does it appear to be at this point any homes in close proximity to the tracks, at least from our vantage point. But again, this all happening at around 2 20 there in Ben Salem. We can tell you a hazmat team on the way to the scene, but at this point can't confirm that there's anything actually leaking from these particular cars. Maybe this is just a precautionary measure. That's right. And we did see the front of this train a little bit earlier when chopper was panned out a little wider, and it does look like the front of the train, the engine where a conductor would be possibly any personnel that looks to be intact. This was about a halfway, maybe three quarters down the extent of this train where it would look like it was just cargo on these train cars at the moment. But again, I can't help but notice the way the tracks look. They're bent out of shape here, and this is where this derailment happened. But again, it's unclear how or why we did see as I was walking in here to come on the set. There is a staging area not too far away where local officials are being arriving there on the scene. I would imagine the NTSB would be called to something like this as well. As we take a wider shot now from chopper six, it appears to be some facility or something nearby. Maybe these air cars here. I can't tell what we thought it for a moment. It might be a junkyard or junkyard or something, but it's something nearby. But like we said earlier, it doesn't appear to be any residential areas near this scene, at least from our vantage point. Uh, yeah, from across the way there across the road, but not where this derailment happened again. It's all happening at around 2 20 there in Ben Salem at this point. Not sure about any injuries. Of course, we're working to get that information for you. Also not clear who owns these tracks or what? Uh, who owns the trains that are on the tracks at this point? As we get a little wider, you can see there is some populated areas here. There are some neighborhoods over to the left up at the top, and there does look like to be some houses and office buildings over here to the right. But generally speaking, this is not in a residential neighborhood. It does look like there's an industrial business close by. But this did happen in this wooded area here again. This is in Ben Salem Bucks County. A train has derailed about 5 to 10 cars derailed here. We believe that at least a couple of them may contain hazardous materials. We don't have that confirmed yet, but we do know a hazmat team is in route to this scene. Perhaps it was a precaution. There's no indication yet that there's any leaking coming from any of these train cars. As you can see there, it is an extensive train. This is toward the back of it now. Oh, no, it keeps going. This is a very large section of the train that looks appears to be the front where the cars are, whatever that junkyard possibly. But just to give you some perspective, this is happening in Bristol Road and Grove Avenue. We were saying earlier at our initial vantage point, we didn't see any residential properties nearby, but it appears to be some businesses, a police on emergency crews telling us to let you know if you live in this area, you should, of course, stay away from the scene because at this point, not clear what may be inside those train cars. Not sure if there's any hazardous material that has leaked out. But again, hazmat crews on the way to the scene here. We also have a crew on the way there as well. I think you can see now there are some workers. Yeah, some workers down there examining the wreckage here of this train derailment in Ben Salem Bucks County. This happening just about 40 minutes ago now, not too long ago when this train went off the tracks, the tracks there all have all fallen apart. And some of those train cars are down into the woods as well. And I would imagine the people who live not too far away would have heard something. They're very loud noises. This came off the rail. We see a couple workers. They're just examining a scene. Interesting to know. At this point, we don't see any emergency crews there at this point, but we know they're on the way to the scene. As we said, hazmat crews on the way. We have a team on the way as we try to get you more information on exactly what happened here today as we zoom in closer, try to get a better idea of what these may have been carrying. There are some of the larger, uh, the big rounded cars that likely contain maybe some chemicals or some sort of fluid, but they'll have to get out there and analyze what it is that we do know from some of our training we get as reporters that these these, uh, the train cars that contain chemicals will have numbers on them, so they'll know what's contained in those and they'll know how to deal with like these here. They'll know how to contain what is in these. But we will continue to monitor the situation here at the moment. We don't have any information on any injuries, which is the good news at the moment. But this is just happening. Gray all unfolding at the moment. We'll have the latest on the 86 abc dot com and action news beginning in under an hour at four o'clock and again at five and six. And we now join General Hospital in progress. We'll see you later on today.