On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed after a railcar's wheel bearing overheated, causing a fire. Three days later, officials conducted a "controlled release" of several tank cars that were filled with vinyl chloride, a toxic and flammable gas that can cause certain cancers, to prevent an explosion.

A new lawsuit alleges for the first time that people died because of the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment.

The lawsuit was filed ahead of Monday’s second anniversary of the toxic crash near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border amid a flurry of new litigation.

A new lawsuit filed against railway company Norfolk Southern says seven people died as a result of a train derailment in Ohio. On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying industrial chemicals derailed in the small town of East Palestine, according to a civil complaint.

It was two years ago that the lives of residents of nearby East Palestine, Ohio, and the Darlington area of Beaver County just inside Pennsylvania were blown up by a train derailment that burned for days and then was exploded, creating a chemical cloud that hung for hours over the region.

As residents continue to wait for action in Washington D.C., hundreds of East Palestine, Ohio residents are gearing up for a new court battle. A new lawsuit claims that Norfolk Southern and agencies at all levels of government failed the communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.