KIEV, July 17 - Fourteen people were taken to the hospital and hundreds evacuated from their homes in western Ukraine after a train, carrying yellow phosphorus, crashed causing fire and emitting poisonous gas, officials said Tuesday.

Ukraine sent elite chemical warfare troops to the site of the crash near Lviv, while firefighters in special chemical protection gear worked to extinguish the fire, officials said.

The train, traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland, was derailed at about 4:55 p.m. local time on Monday in the Lviv region, overturning 15 rail tanks of phosphorus.

Six rail tanks caught fire, spewing toxic smoke over an area of about 90 square km, where about 11,000 people live, according to the emergency ministry. The firefighters managed to extinguish the fire late Monday, the ministry said.

"Samples of air, soil and drinking water have been taken from the area yesterday. Preliminary results show that contamination levels exceed the norm in some areas," Anatoliy Ponomarenko, the first deputy state sanitary inspector, said in a report released by the Healthcare Ministry on Tuesday.

However, he said there was no immediate threat to about 11,000 people living in the area. Local media reported wind has been blowing towards a nearby forest, rather than towards the villages, making the threat even less likely.

At least 5,000 local residents were checked by local doctors for possible poisoning symptoms, officials said. Some 20 people had reported some minor complains, were treated and sent back home. At least 815 people were evacuated from villages that are closest to the site of the crash.

Other local residents were advised by the authorities to stay inside, not to use well water, eat vegetables from their gardens or drink the milk produced by their cows.

The 14 people that have been hospitalized mostly include emergency ministry personnel and train workers. One is in critical condition, the officials said.

Yellow phosphorus is a waxy solid which is stored under liquid because it ignites on contact with oxygen. Phosphorus compounds can be extremely toxic.

Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko has been working closely with the emergency ministry and healthcare ministry at the site of the crash, underscoring the scale of the accident.

The elite Ukrainian chemical warfare troops based in Sambir near Lviv were dispatched to the area on Monday to monitor contamination and to start the clean-up operation. The same troops were deployed in Iraq as part of a multinational coalition led by the U.S. during the war against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The troops have been working on the site and were backed by three special helicopters and other equipment, the Defense Ministry said, More troops and equipment have been standing by, according to Colonel-General Serhiy Kyrychenko, the chief of staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. (nr/ez)