GRANITEVILLE, S.C. - More than 5,000 people fled this textile town Thursday after a train wreck killed one person and released toxic chlorine gas blamed for killing at least seven others. The fumes sent more than 200 people to the hospital.

Nearly 24 hours after the crash, chlorine gas was still seeping from a tangled heap of rail cars but at a much slower rate. Officials said the gas was no longer spreading outside the crash site and that hazardous- materials crews hope to empty the rest of the chlorine today.

Thursday's accident occurred when a streaking, 42-car train crashed into a locomotive that had been parked on an industrial rail spur, according to an investigating agency and the Norfolk Southern Co.

Trains are not supposed to run at high speeds from main railroad lines to spur tracks, said Joe Fianchino, a state railroad safety inspector on the scene. Early reports indicate the Columbia-bound train was traveling up to 45 mph, he said. That would be a normal speed for the main line through Graniteville, but not for a side track, Fianchino said. "There was some error made."

Virtually the entire town 150 miles southwest of Charlotte emptied into the surrounding area to stay with friends or in shelters. At one shelter, residents showing any symptoms of contact with the chlorine gas or other chemicals had to strip and shower at a decontamination unit.

"On behalf of all South Carolinians, my prayers go out to the folks in Graniteville," Gov. Mark Sanford said. He flew over the area earlier in the day and said he'd seen one dead body near a textile mill and "some dead dogs, some dead fish, a variety of living things that have been killed from the gas."

The accident was thought to be the country's worst chemical train wreck since 1978, when 15 people were killed in Waverly, Tenn.

State Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken , said Thursday night that officials at Avondale Mills said five of the eight dead were found on textile mill property.

Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank confirmed that one person was found dead at home and another body was found in a vehicle near the textile mill. Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said a train engineer also was among the dead.

Moore said he was told all of the dead except the train engineer were killed by inhaling chlorine fumes.

The accident happened about 2:30 a.m. at an Avondale Mills facility near Augusta, Ga. A Norfolk Southern freight train struck a locomotive with two rail cars parked at a siding at Avondale Mills, Chapman said.

Chapman said three cars on the moving train were carrying chlorine. More than a dozen state and federal agencies were working at the site. A team of 12 had arrived from the National Transportation Safety Board, and local law enforcement had blocked all 14 entrances into the community by late afternoon.

The ruptured tanker had contained as much as 90 tons of chlorine being transported as a liquid under pressure, said Thom Berry, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). The break allowed it to escape as a gas, he said.

The fact that a second chlorine tanker lay next to the ruptured car complicated efforts to stem the leak, Berry said. Officials expected the chlorine to sink into low areas including ditches overnight, because chlorine is heavier than air.

There were at least three hazardous chemicals on the train, Berry said, but officials were most concerned about the chlorine gas, which affects respiratory and central nervous systems. It can damage the throat, nose, eyes and can cause death.

Of the more than 200 people who went to five hospitals, 64 were admitted and among those, 25 were in serious or critical condition late Thursday, according to hospital officials.

Many of those who sought treatment were injured when they went outside immediately after the wreck.

Early in the day officials told residents to stay home, shut their windows and refrain from using air conditioning and heating systems.But authorities decided to evacuate in the afternoon. Berry said they feared higher humidity and calmer winds at night would lead vapors to spread further and concentrate lower. Twelve people refused to evacuate, he said.

Dr. Paul Bonucci, who was working the emergency room at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, said excessive chlorine gas inhalation causes inflammation of the lung cells and a release of liquid from the cells -- making it difficult for the patient to get oxygen.

He described one patient who had a gurgling sound coming from his chest and soapy-looking bubbles in his trachea. "They are, in many ways, drowning," Bonucci said.

Several thousand residents were funneled through a decontamination center set in the parking lot of the University of South Carolina-Aiken student union.

Some arrived on their own, while others came in school buses, vans or police cruisers. Some carried extra clothing. Others, food in plastic bags. Most wore haggard expressions.

About 20 percent to 30 percent of people complained of symptoms and had to go through decontamination, DHEC physician Glen Nichols said. That meant walking into a yellow tent and stripping naked to be sprayed with water. Everything, down to their shoes, was confiscated to be burned.

Herman Kinchen, 37, pleaded in vain for the return of his $45 watch. He lives in Warrenville outside the contaminated area, but his sister-in-law, Dawn, lives about a few hundred yards from the wreck. He was exposed to the gas when he went into her home to rescue her pit bulls.

After 10 minutes of trying to get the dogs, Kinchen could tell that he had inhaled the chlorine.

"I got a real bad burn on my tongue," Kinchen said as he picked out a pair of black Salvation Army donated sweats. "My chest felt real tight and I was coughing."