Authorities in the US state of Ohio have threatened to arrest anyone who does not leave an evacuation zone near the smouldering wreckage of a train derailment near the Pennsylvania state line, warning that there was a high probability of a toxic gas release.While crews were working to prevent a major explosion yesterday, residents were packing bags overnight, loading their pets into cars and searching for hotel rooms.Police in the town of East Palestine have moved out of their communication centre as the threat of an explosion increased.Officials were seen warning hundreds of residents who had declined to evacuate earlier to do so Sunday night, saying a rail car was at risk of a potential explosion that could launch deadly shrapnel as far as a mile.About fifty cars, including ten carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash on Friday night, according to operators of Norfolk Southern Railway and the US National Transportation Safety Board, but there were no injuries to crew and residents.Norfolk Southern Railway said twenty of the more than one hundred cars on the train were classified as carrying hazardous materials defined as cargo that could pose any kind of danger including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks.The cars involved carried combustible liquids, butyl acrylate and the residue of benzene from previous shipments.Five were transporting vinyl chloride, which is used to make the polyvinyl chloride hard plastic resin in plastic products and is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers.
