<p>The chaos following a train wreck and chlorine gas spill near the Georgia border can be heard in the dozens of calls made to 911.</p><p>The first call came into Aiken County emergency operators about 2:40 a.m. Jan. 6, just after a Norfolk Southern train slammed into another parked on a side track near Avondale Mills. The crash ruptured a tanker carrying chlorine gas, causing a spill that killed nine people.</p><p>The woman told the operator there had been a train wreck in Graniteville. As the dispatcher tries to figure out where the crash occurred, the woman's voice becomes more anxious. "Oh God, I smell smoke. I've got to get out of here."</p><p>More than 100 emergency calls would come in the first few minutes. Some of the first callers knew something had spilled. Others reported a low-lying fog or a leaking yellow substance.</p><p>In the confusion, operators gave conflicting advice. Some told callers to leave if they could. Others were urged to stay inside and shut off ventilation systems.</p><p>In a call from the mill, the dispatcher told the caller to stay on the line and she would send help. "Please hurry," the worker said coughing heavily. "They are coming for you," the operator replied. But the line had fallen silent.</p><p>Somewhere inside the Gregg plant at Avondale Mills, a worker who says his name is Lamar is coughing and having trouble breathing. After he asks the dispatcher to send his love to his mother, he has another request. "Can I stay on the line with you? I don't want to be alone."</p><p>The two talk, only interrupted as the operator, whose name is Janet, puts him on hold for other 911 calls. Sixteen minutes into the call, the man begins to wail and scream, saying "I wanna die."</p><p>"We're going to get in there and help you," she says. "They're working just as fast as they can to get in there and get you guys out."</p><p>The two are disconnected after nearly 30 minutes. It is not clear what happened to the man, but none of the nine victims has the first name Lamar.</p><p>Meanwhile, employees sickened by the chlorine gas stumble down the streets of Graniteville. "I got somebody at my front door begging for help," one woman says in her 911 call.</p><p>After the operator tells her someone is on their way, she said, "Please hurry because he is in bad shape."</p><p>Some stories had happy endings. Joan Spearman called 911 to have someone check on her 13-year-old grandson, Kevin, who is home alone near the crash site while his mother works the third shift at the hospital.</p><p>Put on hold, she prays. Then she asks what is happening. "A train had a wreck and there was a chemical on it and it's been released into the air," the dispatcher responds.</p><p>Police find the boy at home and take him to the decontamination site. He was the first one there, his mother, Nicole, said.</p><p>The teen's oxygen levels were good and he was not admitted to the hospital, but his mother plans to take him to a doctor next week as a precaution.</p>
