Le Sueur County emergency crews are working to get to the scene of a train derailment, which happened just before 5:00 Friday morning. According to scanner traffic, the Union Pacific train left the tracks between the small town of Ottawa and the river.
Initially, the railroad reported that the train operator said an ambulance wasn’t needed, but then the call cut off abruptly. When contact was reestablished they learned the situation had worsened and the locomotive was on fire.
It took fire crews a little over 20 minutes to locate the exact spot of the derailment, and the winter conditions have created a challenge getting to the site. Upon arrival, they determined that the train crew suffered just minor injuries.
Emergency workers on the scene reported that the locomotive and four or five cars came off the tracks and landed in a creek. They also said it appeared that the rail bridge over that creek had failed.