Evacuees Home After Derailed Train Cars Drained

EAGLE LAKE, Minn. (AP) -- Several hundred people have returned to their homes following an evacuation in a southern Minnesota town caused by train derailment.

Three Canadian Pacific train cars, each carrying 30,000 gallons of ethanol, derailed Wednesday afternoon. About 300 nearby residents were evacuated while the highly flammable ethanol was removed from the train cars in the Blue Earth County community of Eagle Lake.

Mayor Tim Auringer said Friday the railroad paid for some residents to spend Wednesday night at hotels in nearby Mankato.

Railroad spokesman Ed 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.

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