Another train that was carrying crude derailed and burned in Illinois on Thursday, the third consecutive rail derailment with the same hazardous content in three weeks.

Two of the cars that derailed in Galena, Illinois, burned, throwing flames of up to several hundred feet high.

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Eight cars had derailed, said Galena City Administrator Mark Moran, of which six fell on their side.

BNSF is a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

Aerial shots showed that the wreck has spread across two sets of tracks and dark smoke blanketing the crash site, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, reports Reuters.

Of the 105 loaded cars of the train, 103 had crude oil. The two other cars had sand, reports Bloomberg.

Up to 50 oil trains pass on the route weekly on the major rail line alongside the Mississippi River, according to Charles Federsen, county emergency manager of Jo Daviess County.

The fire caused closure of the main-line tracks near Galena and it would not be reopened until it passes inspection, Moran said.

He added that the accident is far from the Mississippi River to pose threat to the waterway.

Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries of evacuations.

The cause of the derailment, which occurred three miles outside of Galena, is still unknown.

Emergency responders have been called to Galena although the BNSF responders had already taken control of the site.

The start and end points of the derailed trains are still unknown and if the tank cars involved were older models.

One possible direction of the BNSF train is Chicago, located 160 miles east, which is a major rail center for shipment of the crude from Canada's oil sands and North Dakota.

In February, a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derailed in West Virginia and spilled ethanol fuel into the water. Three cars burned.

On Tuesday a Canadian National Railway train near Gogama, Ontario, spilled oil and some of the cars caught fire.

 In 2013, the Lac-Megantic train with crude oil derailed and exploded, killing 47 people.

More oil producers in North America are relying more on railways to transport crude oil because of the failure of new pipelines to cope with the surge of oil production from shale.

Tagscrude oil, train accidents