Derailment that caused toxic spill in Ukraine result of safety violations

RIA Novosti

KIEV - The derailment of 15 railroad cars carrying yellow phosphorus in western Ukraine July 16, which resulted in major environmental contamination, was caused by a violation of loading rules, the transportation minister said.

"The accident was caused by a violation of loading rules and faulty tanker cars," Mykola Rudkovskiy said, adding that there could be "some questions to the Kazakh company that owns the cargo."

He added that no gasket had been found at the site of the leak and the pressure-regulating valve was broken.

The freight train, traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed outside Lvov, near the Polish border. Several cars caught fire, sending poisonous fumes over a large area.

A total of 164 victims, including 34 children, were hospitalized following the spill.

The Ukrainian government said the accident was the country's worst man-made disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The Lvov Region administration said the accident had inflicted $109,000 worth of damage on local agriculture, and several dairy farms situated in the area have already demanded compensation.