NTSB Releases Troubling Report on ‘Preventable’ Ohio Derailment

For three weeks, the people of East Palestine, Ohio have been gripped with fear.  Toxic chemicals involved in a train derailment were lit ablaze by authorities earlier this month, in a move that some have criticized as being cost-driven as opposed to safety-driven.

Now, with the federal government getting involved in oversight of the cleanup in the small Ohio community, a new report states that the accident itself was “preventable”, and that the locomotive’s operators were warned about the dangerous mechanical issue now blamed for the derailment.

The operators of the Norfolk Southern train involved in a toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month received a “critical audible alarm message instructing the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle,” according to a newly released National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report Thursday.

The damning revelations were revealed by the NTSB this week.

The preliminary report comes as NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a press conference that the Feb. 3 disaster “was 100% preventable.”

“We call things accidents. There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable,” she said. “So our hearts are with you know, that the NTSB has one goal and that is safety and ensuring that this never happens again.”

Residents of East Palestine have been complaining of new illnesses, including watering eyes and coughing fits.  Pets and livestock have also suddenly perished in the wake of the incident.