Authorities in the US are investigating the disappearance of a shipment of 30 tons of ammonium nitrate, a dangerous chemical compound used in the production of fertilizers and explosives, which went missing during its transportation by train from the state of Wyoming to California, according to local media reports.
According to the reports, the convoy departed from the city of Cheyenne on April 12th, but when it made a stop in the Mojave Desert two weeks later, the railcar that was supposed to contain the chemical was empty.
Ammonium nitrate is widely used as a fertilizer. However, due to its properties, it can also be used to manufacture high-powered explosives, such as those that detonated in the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in a 1995 bombing that killed 168 people and injured over 650.
According to a spokesperson for the chemical company Dyno Nobel, the compound was being transported in granular form in a covered hopper car, so it is believed that it may have fallen out through the bottom door of the railcar during the journey.
Representatives from the railroad company responsible for transporting the ammonium nitrate, Union Pacific, commented that if the chemical had fallen onto the tracks, it “should not pose any risk to public health or the environment.”
Currently, investigators from the Federal Railroad Administration, the California Public Utilities Commission, Union Pacific, and Dyno Nobel are conducting the necessary inquiries to determine what happened to the chemical shipment.