Five dead, 40 missing in Canada train disaster
July 08, 2013
Fires that had stopped police from conducting a full search of the charred wreckage at the disaster scene in the Quebec village of Lac-Megantic have now been put out.
"The flames, the fires all have been put out now. We did it," fire chief Denis Lauzon told a press briefing.
The accident devastated the center of this small town 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of Montreal, and forced about 2,000 to flee their homes.
Police spokesman Michel Brunet said after finding one body late Saturday, they now have found four others and anticipate "many more" fatalities as a result of the disaster. He added that the official figure for missing people is 40.
Saturday's crash of a freight train carrying crude oil and subsequent explosions decimated the center of the village of Lac-Megantic, which has a population of just 6,000 people.
One firefighter said on condition of anonymity that there had been at least 50 people in one bar that was consumed by the flames.
"There is nothing left," he said. The explosion completely leveled more than four blocks of the town's downtown area, and it took firefighters 18 hours to contain the inferno, Two long burning oil-tanker cars were put out, firefighters said Sunday.
Brunet had said Saturday that the fire was so intense investigators couldn't go anywhere near the devastated downtown neighborhood.
Witnesses said they heard the train pass by at what seemed like a greater than usual speed, then careen off the rails and erupt into flames.
Survivors of the explosion described a wall of flames as the tanker cars left the tracks as dozens of people enjoyed a summer night in bars and on restaurant in the center of town.
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said in a statement Saturday that the train had been transporting 72 carloads of crude oil when it derailed at around 1:20 a.m. (1720 GMT).
