Freight train engines, cars derail and catch fire in Maine

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

Officials say several cars on a freight train have derailed and caught fire in rural Maine. Three railroad workers were hurt, but their injuries were said not to be life-threatening. The Maine Forest Service says in a statement that three locomotive engines and six cars carrying lumber and electrical wiring went off the track at about 8:30 a.m. in Sandwich Academy Grant Township in Somerset County. They derailed into a wooded area and started a small forest fire. Emergency responders contained the blaze and were monitoring it. The agency says a preliminary assessment points to a buildup of “melting ice and debris that washed out part of the railroad track” as the possible cause of the accident.