A freight train carrying fuel derailed and caught fire on Friday near the Arizona-New Mexico state line, forcing the closure of an interstate highway that serves as a key trucking route.
Initial passers-by posted video and photos on social media of crumpled train cars and billowing, black smoke.
No injuries were reported in the midday train wreck near Lupton, Arizona.
BNSF Railway spokesperson Lena Kent said company personnel were on site working to clear the wreckage. Ms Kent said the cause of the derailment is under investigation.
Interstate 40 was closed by authorities in both directions in the area in the early afternoon, directing trucks and motorists off the freeway to alternate routes, New Mexico State Police and the Arizona Department of Public Safety announced.
The train was transporting non-odorous propane and gasoline, and a half-dozen rail cars caught fire and burned for hours after the derailment, New Mexico state police Lt Phil Vargas said.
“It looks like they’re just letting those (rail) cars burn themselves out,” Mr Vargas said.
Nearby residences and a truck stop were evacuated as a precaution as winds carried away thick smoke and local firefighting crews responded.
The derailment also led Amtrak to cancel some passenger travel, including on the route between Los Angeles and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Arizona Corporation Commission that oversees railroad safety said in a social media post on X that 10 rail cars were involved in the derailment and that two were transporting liquid petroleum.
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