Ohio town reflects on chemical train derailment aftermath

For East Palestine residents John and Lisa Hamner, life as they knew it came to a screeching, flaming halt at 8:55 pm on 3 February.

It was that day that a toxin-laden train derailed just metres from their successful garbage truck business, which they had grown from five customers to more than 7,000 over an 18-year period in and around this close-knit Ohio town.

"It's totally wrecked our life," he told the BBC, choking back tears in the parking lot of his business, where the stench of chemicals and sulphur from the derailment remains powerful.

"I'm at the point now where I want out of here," he added. "We're going to relocate. We can't do it no more."

After the derailment, emergency crews performed a controlled release of vinyl chloride from five railcars that were at risk of exploding.

Mr Hamner's eyes are red and swollen, which he credits to the lingering physical impact of the chemicals spilled in East Palestine.

But he and his wife tell the BBC that their main wounds are unseen and psychological.

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