Train explodes in North Dakota

EMERGENCY crews are responding to an oil-train derailment and explosion near an ethanol processing plant in North Dakota.

A thick black plume of smoke is rising from the wreckage of the freight train near Casselton.

Local authorities have reported a second train was involved in the accident which caused the fire and explosionsl.

About 10 freight cars are now reported to be on fire. The derailed train was reportedly hauling up to 106 such cars carrying crude oil.

Emergency services have expressed conce that the explosions are close to a nearby ethanol processing facility.

Local authorities say none of the train's crew were injured in the accident.

BNSF Railway spokeswoman Amy McBeth said a train carrying grain was first to derail, and it knocked several cars of the mile-long oil train off adjoining tracks. Several explosions were reported, she said.

Casselton County Sheriff's Capt. Mitch Burris also told The Associated Press that the derailment appeared to result from the crude oil train striking a grain car, but he said investigators were still trying to determine exactly what happened.

Emergency crews were calling for truckloads of sand to help contain leaking material.

No injuries have been reported so far.

Unconfirmed reports suggest emergency crews have pulled back from the vicinity of the explosions and are "just going to have to let it bu."

Onlookers are being urged not to approach to within a kilometre of the buing train.

City Auditor Sheila Klevgard said the incident occurred about a mile west of Casselton, close to an ethanol processing plant, at around 2pm local time.

A "Code Red Alert" was issued advising Casselton's 2500 residents to stay indoors. The waing has since been extended to all offices and residences within a 10m-radius.

Eva Fercho from Casselton told local news service wday.com that she noticed thick, black smoke at about 2 p.m., and that it appears the smoke and possibly the derailment is coming from near an ethanol plant on the west side of town.

"The sky is totally black from smoke," Fercho said.

She said that she heard two explosions not long after she saw the smoke.

"I could almost feel the house shake in that (second explosion)," Fercho said. "It was loud."

Terry Johnson, the manager of a grain dealer less than a mile from the derailment, said he had heard at least six explosions in the two hours following the incident.

"Each one, you could hear the explosion," he said. "It shook our building and there was a huge fireball."

"The town is covered with black smoke," he said. "The wind is blowing a little, so the town doesn't have to breathe it."

North Dakota is the United States' second-largest oil-producing state. A growing majority of that oil is being shipped by rail.