Four train cars operated by Louisiana and Delta Railroad derailed around 6:30 p.m. Friday near Corinne Street in New Iberia. Two of them overturned and one of those breached, spilling tons of rice onto the ground, dissipating a gas used as a pesticide into the air and inspiring some area residents to try and scavenge a little rice for themselves, said a neighbor.

Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Wendell Raborn said the Sheriff’s Office is also planning to request a review of train operations in the parish from the National Transpor-tation Safety Board.

L&D General Manager Gene Miller said the cars overturned on a portion of track owned by Louisiana and Delta. They were then dragged onto a portion of track owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns most of the tracks.

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Miller said the wreck was caused when the derailed cars got off the edge of the ties on the track, but they’re still looking at what might have caused that to happen.

Capt. Richard Hazelwood of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, on scene Friday evening and Saturday, said when one of the cars that overturned was breached, the phosphine gas used to kill small organisms in the rice evaporated into the air. 

“Once it was breached, the gas evaporated, and it was safe for us to go ahead,” he said.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, phosphine is a colorless, flammable and explosive gas that smells like garlic or decaying fish and is used as a pesticide in stored grain. It evaporates into air and breaks down when in contact with soil or water. It is toxic.

As of Saturday morning, however, Hazelwood said they had been doing testing of the air around the cars and found no traces of the gas.

One of the cars is still sealed, however. Hazel-wood, who was on the phone with representatives of the State Police Hazardous Materials team and of the State Department of Agricul-ture Friday night, said they’ll have to wait 72 hours after it was sealed before opening and removing the car.

It was sealed Friday at noon, so they’ll have to wait until Monday at the same time, he said.

Hazelwood said the gas is “not a real big hazard” except to anyone standing in its immediate proximity when the car is opened, as it evaporates fairly quickly.

Hazelwood said a patrol unit will be “baby sitting” the car “to make sure no one wants to try and make a gumbo.”

“We’re taking every precaution, but the danger to the public is minimal,” he said.

Hazelwood may have been joking about the gumbo, but nearby resident Julie Landry, who was home at the time of the derailment, said she saw people approaching the train with buckets and plastic bags Friday night and early Saturday

morning.

“These are some hard times right now, and rice is a staple around here” she said.

Landry, however, was not one of those. “I came out (of the house) as soon as it happened and smelled (a smell like herbicide) immediately,” she said. “I said ‘We need to be cautious.’ ... The only thing that worries me is,

what if chemicals should spill out?”

Raborn said the office has the same concern and plans to ask the National Train Safety Board to conduct a review of train operations in Iberia Parish. He said there have been four train derailments in Iberia Parish so far in 2009.

“Imagine if there had been a chlorine spill right there,” he said. “Fortunately it was just rice.”

Miller said Louisiana and Delta primarily transports pipes and rice in this branch of its operations, though he couldn’t speak for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which also has operations in the area and owns much of the tracks.

“He (Sheriff Louis Ackal) is very concerned, since there are this many happening in a major population area. He’s concerned that maybe the tracks aren’t being maintained. We’re going to ask for a review to make sure,” Raborn said. “They’ve all been very minor with no injuries and no danger to the public, but we want to make sure that’s not going to keep occurring.”

Miller said he submits a report after every “incident” like a derailment to region headquarters that goes to the Federal Railroad Administration, though he couldn’t speak to whether or not it would go to transportation safety board. He said Louisiana and Delta is “always doing maintenance” and is currently putting 8,600 new ties in tracks owned by their branches.

“It (the derailment) is not a normal thing,” Miller said. “It’s not supposed to happen. We think the rain yesterday (Friday) had a lot to do with it.”