JACKSON (AP) — A Starkville man died Monday when his dump truck collided with a train in Monroe County, sending four railroad cars flying off the tracks and causing the truck to erupt in flames, authorities said.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Tommy Coleman identified the fatality as Elmer Patton, 51, of Starkville. Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley confirmed that the driver of the truck had been killed, but he did not release the man’s name.

The truck ‘‘blew up in flames,’’ Coleman said.

There were no other reports of injuries.

Patton was hauling a load of asphalt in the 2007 Mack truck owned by Oktibbeha County when he collided with the train at the intersection of the Kansas City Southern Railroad and Mississippi 8, Coleman and Gurley said. The highway was closed to traffic at the railroad crossing about five miles west of Aberdeen as crews tried to clean up the mess.

Four of the train’s roughly 20 cars jumped the track after the collision, Coleman said.

The derailment posed no immediate threat to area residents, said Kim Sloan, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

‘‘I do not know what type of freight was on board, but at this time I’ve been advised there were no hazardous materials,’’ Sloan said, adding that a hazardous material crew was on the scene.

Mississippi 8 was closed from the Highway 45 Alternate to Old Magnolia Road for several hours, Coleman said.

At least one other man has died when a vehicle collided with a train in Mississippi this year. Wesley Ware, 53, of Lambert was killed in April after an Amtrack passenger train slammed into the trailer he was hauling. Authorities said Ware was thrown about 75 feet from the vehicle in the accident near Yazoo City. None of the 250 passengers and 10 crew members on that train were hurt.