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.