Transport Minister Urged To Resign After Train Carrying Toxic Chemical Caught Fire And Derailed

KIEV, Ukraine -- Secretariat Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha said President Victor Yushchenko had full information about Monday’s accident in the Lviv region, according to the President`s press-office.

Rescue workers at the site where a freight train carrying highly toxic phosphorus derailed in western Ukraine, near Lviv July 16, 2007.
Several Ukrainian villages are at risk from a giant poisonous cloud that formed after a train carrying a toxic chemical caught fire and derailed.

Hundreds of villagers from the area have been evacuated and tens have been taken to hospital.

The fire aboard the train carrying highly flammable yellow phosphorous was put out late on Monday.

Baloha said the president had issued a decree to cope with the disaster and ensure that its victims are safe.

He said railroad accidents “have become frequent recently” and accused Transportation Minister Mykola Rudkovsky of being incompetent, urging him to resign.

Source: UNIAN