1.
GV & SV Tank car ablaze - fire hose in F/G (2 shots)
0.10

2.
GV Explosion ZOOM INTO MV Casualties helped into ambulance (2 shots)
1.01


TRANSCRIPT: "Firemen and newsmen were near the tank car fire set off by an explosion when suddenly there was a second blast..... KPRC Cameraman Bob Brandon who shot this film suffered second and third degree burns. A city fire inspector was killed and 37 other firemen and newsmen were injured. Two firemen are in critical condition. Most of the residents had been evacuated from the heavily populated area before the second explosion that sent flames 200 feet into the air. An ambulance driver said when he got up to run fire surrounded him for two or three minutes steel, wood and other debris fell on the crowd. The derailed cars contained acetene and other highly inflammable chemicals. National Transportation Safety Board investigators are trying to determine what caused the derailment. Peter Nolan NBC News




Initials SGM/2300 SGM/2308


TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A railroad car loaded with chemicals blew up like a bomb in a train derailment near Houston, Texas on Tuesday (19 October), killing one person and injuring almost 50 others.

The dead man was later identified as a fire inspector and six reporters and photographers, who had earlier raced to the scene following reports of the train derailment, were listed among the injured.

A relatively small explosion followed the derailment, and the second, more powerful blast, came about an hour later. Eye witness reports said the second blast sent a fireball 200 feet (about 60 metres) into the sky and that was followed by a mushroom cloud until the area looked as though an atomic bomb had exploded.

This, film a telerecording from the National Broadcasting Company of America, shows the second explosion happening and included a spectacular shot of a fireman on an extension ladder caught in the fireball. The film is supplied with a commentary in English, which may be used if required. A transcription of that commentary appears on this page.