Canada train inferno death toll rises
The death toll from the massive explosion caused by a runaway oil tanker train that derailed and flattened part of a small Canadian town has risen to 13, a coroner says, and dozens more remain missing.
Confirmation of eight further deaths in Lac-Megantic, in the Quebec province, on Monday came as environmental officials warned that around 100,000 litres of oil spilled in the disaster was headed for the Saint Lawrence River.
With the coroner stating that the official toll had more than doubled from the previous count of five, police at a joint press conference said around three dozen people are still missing.
Officials have said they expect the death toll to rise further given the number of people yet unaccounted for.
Evacuees meanwhile will be able to return home on Tuesday, Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told reporters.
You might like
As many as 1500 Lac-Megantic residents have been holed up at emergency shelters or staying with friends and family will be allowed to return to their homes.
This represents “the vast majority of residents that were evacuated,” added a Quebec public safety official. They “will be allowed to go back to their homes.”
About 500 people are already believed to have headed back to their homes after the smouldering debris cooled and a widening area was declared safe, the official said.
Firefighters put out the inferno late on Sunday after it had destroyed a two-square-kilometre area of the picturesque lakeside village 250km east of Montreal.
Stay informed, daily
The freight train operated by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway derailed and exploded early Saturday, unleashing a wall of fire that tore through homes and businesses in Lac-Megantic – population 6000.
The fire levelled more than four blocks, including 30 buildings.
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said the train had been transporting 72 carloads of crude oil when it derailed.
Rail company spokesman Christophe Journet told AFP the train had been stopped in the neighbouring town of Nantes for a crew changeover.
For an as yet unknown reason, Journet said, the train “started to advance, to move down the slope leading to Lac-Megantic,” even though the brakes were engaged.
There was no conductor on board when the train crashed, he said.
The company speculated that a temporary “shutdown” of the train in Nantes after a small engine fire “may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place”.
