Eagle Lake residents return home after ethanol derailment

EAGLE LAKE, Minn. (AP) - Residents are being allowed to return to their homes in Eagle Lake after a freight train carrying ethanol derailed and forced the evacuation of about 300 people in the southern Minnesota town.

The all-clear was given late Thursday afternoon.

A spokesman for Canadian Pacific says crews are draining ethanol from three train cars that derailed and pumping it into tanker trucks. Railroad spokesman Ed Greenberg says Thursday that none of the highly flammable material leaked from the train cars, which derailed Wednesday afternoon.

Greenberg says it's not immediately clear what caused the derailment. He says Canadian Pacific will conduct its own investigation in tandem with a standard federal investigation.

Eagle Lake Mayor Tim Auringer (OHR'-in-jer) says the evacuations were a precaution. Eagle Lake is near Mankato in Blue Earth County.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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