GRANITEVILLE, S.C., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A ninth body has been recovered, but several remain missing in a train wreck at Graniteville, S.C., that released a deadly cloud of chlorine gas.
Federal officials said a northbound Norfolk Southern train hit 14 parked rail cars -- three that were carrying 90 tons of chlorine and another car carrying sodium hydroxide -- near an Avondale Mills plant.
Avondale Mills plant official said several employees were unaccounted for, but have not been officially listed as missing.
About 240 people became ill from the gas release, while some 5,400 forced to evacuate from their homes have not yet been allowed to return, CNN reported Sunday.
The FBI and federal transportation officials are investigating the cause of the train crash. A switch diverted the moving train onto the parallel track, but authorities do not believe the switch was tampered with, said National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Debbie Hersman.
"People with the appropriate access to the switch set it the way we found it," she said. "We don't have any indication of any criminal acts, any sabotage, any terrorism. At this point, we don't know it was anything but a transportation accident."
