A cargo train carrying chemicals has exploded after hitting a rubbish lorry and being derailed in the United States.
About 15 CSX Corp train cars derailed shortly after 2pm local time near White Marsh, Maryland, and caught fire, sending a thick column of black smoke into the air.
The driver of the lorry was sent to a Baltimore shock trauma centre in serious condition, the Baltimore County Police and Fire Department said in a statement.
Two CSX workers on the train were unhurt.
At least one of the rail cars contained sodium chlorate, an oxidizer used in a variety of industrial processes, CSX said.
The US Department of Transportation classifies sodium chlorate as a hazardous material, according to CSX.
The train, being pulled by two locomotives, had 45 rail cars that also contained products such as lumber and printing paper, according to CSX.
A police and fire spokeswoman said people were advised to leave a nearby 20-block area, with those staying behind urged to keep windows closed and air conditioners off.
It was the third significant rail crash in the US in the past two weeks.
On Saturday, two freight trains operated by BNSF Railway Co and Union Pacific Corp crashed at a rail intersection in rural Missouri, injuring seven people.
That accident came a little more than a week after a Metro North commuter train derailed near Fairfield, Connecticut.
More than 70 people were injured in that incident, which shut down traffic on one of the most heavily travelled passenger rail corridors in the US.
