MECCA, Calif. (AP) – A train derailment in the Southern California desert spilled gallons of blue cheese dressing into a canal leading to the Salton Sea.
Cleaning up the smelly mess will take a few days, Union Pacific officials said Wednesday.
The 52-car train was carrying a variety of cargo from Dupo, Ill., to Los Angeles, said Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona.
Nineteen of the cars derailed, dumping bulk containers of the dressing, other food products and concrete sealant. The cause of the Tuesday afternoon derailment and the amount of materials spilled had not been determined.
The spilled dressing and other materials flowed into the Coachella Canal about a mile from the north shore of the Salton Sea, hazardous materials specialist Robert Becker said.
“There was blue cheese – a lot of it,” Becker said.
The canal was dammed and there was no threat to the salty Salton Sea, Becker said.
The train’s three crew members were uninjured but a Riverside County firefighter was taken to a hospital for treatment of heat exposure, Battalion Chief Jorge Rodriguez said.
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