An estimated 43,700-plus aquatic animals in East Palestine, Ohio, died following the train derailment there earlier this month.
Mary Mertz, the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said in a virtual press conference that consulting group EnviroScience surveyed four different sites to calculate Thursday’s new figure — which marked a disturbing climb from last week’s count of 3,500 dead aquatic animals.
She added that the Environmental Protection Agency had warned her staff that it was “too dangerous to enter the water without specialized gear” after the derailment on Feb. 3.
EnviroScience was fitted with the proper equipment, however, and collected samples on Feb. 6 and 7.
The group collected 2,938 dead aquatic animals during that time and scaled upwards to arrive at a total estimated death count of more than 43,700 across the area impacted by the chemical spill from the train and the “controlled burn” of its toxic vinyl chloride cargo.
The nearly 2-mile Norfolk Southern train derailed mere moments after its crew received a warning about an overheated axle. The incident forced countless local residents, many of whom have since experienced concerning health symptoms, to evacuate.
Mertz said that 38,222 small fish and 5,500 other aquatic animals are estimated to have died as a result of the derailment, which affected numerous local waterways.
Footage from distressed locals documenting the dead fish eventually hit social media.
“We haven’t seen any signs of fish in distress since that time,” Mertz told the outlet. “So, because the chemicals were contained, we haven’t seen any additional signs of aquatic life suffering. And in fact, we have seen live fish already return to Leslie Run.”
While state officials claimed no land animals were affected by the accident, residents are suggesting otherwise. Kayla Miller told The Washington Post that one of her roosters had died, while another started having seizures — and another stopped being able to walk.
“They were perfectly healthy before all of this happened,” Miller told the outlet.
Amanda Breshears, who lives in East Lima, 10 miles away from the derailment site, told local CBS affiliate WKBN that her five hens and one rooster died a day after the controlled burn of vinyl chloride. She said she’d found no signs of predators entering the enclosure and said the smell of chlorine made her eyes water.
“My video ... footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died,” she said. “If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years.”
East Palestine resident Andrea Belden, meanwhile, told CBS News that her cat was “breathing really heavy” and “super labored” after the train derailed. The cat eventually died at a veterinary emergency center — where a diagnosis suggested “vinyl chloride gases” were to blame.
The Murray & Murray law firm in Sandusky, Ohio, has since filed a suit against Norfolk Southern alleging that both land animals and fish are dying up to 20 miles from the impact site. As for the safety of East Palestine’s drinking water, tests were led by Norfolk Southern itself.
“Their results that claim there were no contaminants is not a reliable finding,” Sam Bickley, an aquatic ecologist at Virginia Scientist-Community Interface, an advocacy-focused coalition of scientists and engineers, told HuffPost. “I find this extremely concerning.”