At 16.55 on July 16, in the Buskiy district of the Lviv Oblast, 15 cisterns with yellow phosphorus derailed and caught fire, sending a toxic cloud roiling overhead. The train was making its way from Kazakhstan to Poland when it jumped the tracks, spilling phosphorous that ignited when it came in contact with the air.
As a result of the derailment of cisterns, 50m of railway, 100m of contact system, and three bearings, were damaged. The poison cloud produced by the fire contaminated 90 square kilometers of the Busky district, where 11 thousand people live. Local residents were advised to stay inside, not to use water from wells, eat vegetables from their gardens or drink the milk produced by their cows. Some 900 local residents were evacuated at their own request.
