Video: Amazing fireball in US train crash
This huge explosion sparked when an oil train crashed head-on with another was caught on camera, with shocking footage showing a fireball billowing into the sky.
Hundreds of residents have been urged to leave North Dakota, where the accident happened, amid fears that smoke would overwhelm the area.
Amazingly, no injuries have been reported.
There were fears of smoke billowing across the town of Casselton after a number of carriages derailed, starting a series of blazes and sending an enormous fireball high into the sky.
Several explosions were reported, and people said the blasts rattled the windows of properties in the area, including the town's City Hall.
Cass County sheriff's office said it was advising people in the town, which has 2,400 residents, to evacuate because of concerns about smoke being blown over their homes.
A shelter was set up in Fargo, about 25 miles away.
Investigators say they are still trying to work out what caused several of the carriages from the mile-long train to leave the tracks yesterday afternoon.
They said it appears to be the result of the train colliding with a grain carriage. There were no reports of injuries as firefighters brought the blaze under control.
Half of the oil cars have been separated from the train, but another 56 cars remain in danger.
The collision destroyed both engines on the oil train. Both trains were operated by BNSF Railway Co.
The accident is likely to stoke concerns about the safety of shipping increasing volumes of crude oil by rail, a trend that emerged from the unexpected burst of shale oil production out of North Dakota's Bakken fields.
More than two-thirds of the state's oil production is currently shipped by rail.
