Crews cleaning up Boeing fuselages from Montana river
Jul 5, 2014, 4:27 PM | Updated: Jul 6, 2014, 9:30 pm
This Saturday, July 5, 2014 photo by Brock Sarbeck provided by Wiley E. Waters Whitewater Rafting shows a freight train that derailed near Alberton in western Montana, sending three cars carrying aircraft components down a steep embankment and into the Clark Fork River on Thursday, July 3. (AP Photo/Wiley E. Waters Whitewater Rafting, Brock Sarbeck)
(AP Photo/Wiley E. Waters Whitewater Rafting, Brock Sarbeck)
Crews from Montana Rail Link began cleaning up cars and fuselages that spilled into a river in western Montana after a train derailed Thursday afternoon.
A MRL spokesperson told The Missoulian, they used eight pieces of heavy equipment Sunday to start lifting three Boeing 737 fuselages up the hill with cables.
The work was expected to be completed by late Sunday or early Monday, but now it’s likely to continue through Tuesday.
“It’s taking longer than we had originally anticipated,” said company spokeswoman Lynda Frost.
Nineteen cars derailed 10 miles west of Alberton. Thirteen of those cars were carrying aircraft parts, soybeans, and denatured alcohol. The train, also carrying 747 and 777 parts, was on its way to Renton from Kansas City.
No one was injured in the derailment and the cause is still under investigation.
