FARGO (KFGO-AM) -- There was initial confusion about what the train that derailed west of Casselton, North Dakota last week was carrying. More than a dozen tanker cars exploded sending fireballs hundreds of feet into the air.
In 911 recordings obtained by KFGO News, a member of a crew on a nearby train first told emergency dispatchers in Fargo that it was ethanol. It turned about to be highly flammable crude oil from western North Dakota. An employee of the nearby ethanol plant told 911 that it appeared to him to be oil.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the cause of the derailment. It could be a year or more before a final determination is made.