The President of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says emergency personnel are on scene of a train derailment near Guernsey.
Marlo Pritchard says of the 104 cars on the C.P. train, 31 of them left the tracks and 12 caught fire.
There are no reports of injuries or fatalities and Highway 16 in both directions remains closed.
The R.M. of Usborne declared a local state of emergecy and asked Guernsey residents to evacuate because of the thick plume of smoke coming from the dozen crude oil cars on fire.
“Air quality was a concern,” said Pritchard at a news conference in Regina this afternoon (Thurs).
“I have reports that were about 85 residents that did evacuate, they were asked to go to the town hall in Lanigan to register.” he said.
The site of this morning’s (Thurs) train derailment near Guernsey is only 10 kilometres from the most recent one in December.
On December 9, 2019, over a million litres of oil was lost after 33 oil tank cars and one hopper car derailed, along Highway 16 between Guernsey and Plunkett.