Oil train blast razes town centre

Police said they expected the death toll to increase.

The blasts sent people in Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky. Flames and billowing black smoke could still be seen long after the 73-carriage train derailed and a fire chief likened the charred scene to a war zone.

Up to 2,000 people were forced from their homes in the lakeside town of 6,000 people, about 155 miles east of Montreal and about 10 miles west of the Maine border with the US.

Lt Michel Brunet of Quebec provincial police said one person had died. He refused to say how many others might be dead, but said authorities had been told "many" people were reported missing.

Police spokesman Lt Guy Lapointe said: "I don't want to get into numbers, what I will say is we do expect we'll have other people who will be found deceased unfortunately."

The derailment caused several tanker carriages to explode in the town centre, a popular area known for its bars that is often bustling on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1am local time on Saturday. The fire spread to a number of homes and witnesses said the flames were higher than the steeple on a nearby church.

"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.

The cause of the accident was believed to be a runaway train, the railway's operator said.

The president and CEO of Rail World, the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic. "If brakes aren't properly applied on a train, it's going to run away," said Edward Burkhardt. "But we think the brakes were properly applied on this train."

Source: http://www.standard.co.uk/panewsfeeds/oil-train-blast-razes-town-centre-8692950.html

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