New lawsuit alleges locals died as result of 2023 East Palestine derailment disaster

A new lawsuit has been filed alleging for the first time that the February 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment resulted in deaths, according to The Associated Press.

The complaint alleges that the disaster led to seven deaths, including the death of a one-week old baby, while other plaintiffs allege that they have developed mysterious health problems that they believe could get worse over time, according to the AP. Norfolk Southern, the rail company at the center of the derailment, has already agreed to a $600 million settlement to compensate locals affected by the disaster, though a litany of other lawsuits filed against the company by business owners argue that the settlement is insufficient.

“Our clients want truth. They want transparency,” Kristina Baehr, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, told the AP. “They want to know what they were exposed to, which has been hidden from them. They want to know what happened and why it happened. And they want accountability.”

Biden Official Admits Devastating Controlled Burn Of Derailed East Palestine Train Cars Wasn’t Necessary https://t.co/7ueOeGL54W

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 7, 2024

The lawsuit also alleges that Norfolk Southern and the contractors it hired mishandled the cleanup effort while officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the company’s actions and did not adequately caution locals about possible health risks, according to the AP.

The East Palestine crisis began when a number of Norfolk Southern rail cars ran off the tracks in the small town in early February 2023, and it was made worse several days later when officials decided to engage in a controlled burn of five cars of vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical used for plastic production, that created a massive cloud of thick smoke, according to the AP. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) probe subsequently found that the controlled burn was unnecessary, and that some evidence indicated Norfolk Southern may have ignored that the rail cars in question were cooling down and therefore would not explode as first feared.

Vice President J.D. Vance and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are set to visit East Palestine on Monday to mark the second anniversary of the disaster’s beginning. President Donald Trump visited the area shortly after the disaster occurred in 2023, while former President Joe Biden did not make his way to the town for a visit for more than a year after the disaster occurred. Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was also criticized for not making it to East Palestine for a visit for several weeks after the derailment.

Norfolk Southern did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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