SOUTH WHITLEY — Around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, May 23, an estimated 15-car freight train derailed in South Whitley. The derailment happened around North Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue with some of the cars ending up in the back property of Whitley Manufacturing.

Around 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, crews were still on the scene, some in hazmat suits, trying to clear the tracks. One of the train cars contents could be seen spilling over the tracks, it’s unsure at this time what was being carried by the train cars. Members of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Environmental Products and Services Emergency Response Unit were among the various crews responding at the scene.

Many area residents walked down to the tracks to see what was going one. One said, “I was up watching the Bachelorette, and I heard what sounded like real loud thunder. I looked out my window and saw sparks coming from the tracks.”

Directly after the derailment, a few residents around Broad Street were evacuated from the area for their own safety. All South Whitley railroad crossings remain closed until further notice, along with areas of SR 5 and State Street.

Norfolk Southern Corporation is the owner of the train that was derailed.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation at this time.