This video screenshot released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, the United States. (NTSB/Handout via Xinhua)
The investigators who experienced symptoms were part of a team conducting a house-to-house survey in an area near the derailment.
NEW YORK, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Seven U.S. government investigators briefly fell ill in early March while studying the possible health impacts of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed to CNN at the end of March.
"The investigators' symptoms included sore throats, headaches, coughing and nausea -- consistent with what some residents experienced after the February 3 train derailment that released a cocktail of hazardous chemicals into the air, water and soil," said the report.
The investigators who experienced symptoms were part of a team conducting a house-to-house survey in an area near the derailment, and they immediately reported their symptoms to federal safety officers, according to the report.
"Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects," a CDC spokesperson said in a statement.
It is not clear what caused the investigators' symptoms -- whether chemical exposure or something else, such as fatigue. But the team, some of whom are officers and physicians in the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, found it suspicious that they became ill at the same time and with the same symptoms, noted the report. ■
