Three workers are still unaccounted for after a train crash near Panhandle that caused a large fire that’s still burning.
The Department of Public Safety said Tuesday afternoon while rescue operations are ongoing, teams will not be able to make much progress until the fire is contained.
DPS Trooper Chris Ray says no hazardous materials have contaminated the area, but residents are still being advised to stay indoors.
A voluntary evacuation is still in place.
12:04pm – Witnesses say they heard screeching and the ground shook like there was an explosion. One witness said they saw an engine going underneath the other. The collision was so hard it shook the trailers across the street.
11:27am – BNSF has confirmed that the lead locomotives on two intermodal trains collided near 
Panhandle, TX, this morning, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at approximately 8:40am CT. Four BNSF employees were involved in the incident.
Local first responders and BNSF personnel were deployed to the scene. By 9:02am, one employee was transported to a local hospital and is being treated. Rescue efforts are underway at the scene with respect to the three other railroad employees involved in the incident.
BNSF will provide additional details as they become available.
UPDATE 10:54am – The City of Panhandle says residents east of SH 207 are being evacuated due to shifting winds near the area of a fiery collision Tuesday morning.
Savannah Willburn says residents can congregate at the town’s courthouse or war memorial.
Donations are also being accepted for first responders 
to today’s incident. Those are being taken at 600 Main St. at United Methodist Church.
UPDATE 10:40am
NewsChannel 10 has just confirmed at least one victim of this crash has been taken to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. We do know the patient is in stable condition. BNSF says four employees were involved in the collision and rescue efforts are underway for the others.
At this time, emergency officials are staging rescue efforts at the Carson County AG barn which is located on the southeast side of town.
A fiery crash erupted when two trains met head-on Tuesday morning.
Carson County law enforcement and rescue officials have not reported any injuries, but hospitals in Amarillo – about 30 minutes away – are operating on high alert as a precaution. Roads are still open near the crash, but drivers are advised to avoid the area 5 miles east of Panhandle just off Highway 60.
At least one of the trains involved is from BNSF, the second-largest railway company in the country behind Union Pacific.
The last BNSF accident involving a collision with another train was in December 2013 in Keithville, LA. Two locomotives and 11 cars from the train derailed when it met head-on with a Union Pacific train. Three front locomotives and one car from the UP train derailed.
The likely cause of the 2013 accident was the BNSF conductor’s improper positioning for a switch onto a side track, according to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation.
– Newschannel 6
