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A CANADIAN RAIL disaster that “probably” killed as many as 50 people was likely the result of an engineer’s failure to set the brakes on an unmanned train owned by a US railway company, officials have claimed.
Twenty people have been confirmed dead and 30 remain unaccounted for with little hope of being found alive following the explosive train crash, Quebec provincial police inspector Michel Forget said.
All 30 people, he said, were “missing and most probably dead in this tragedy” adding that authorities had met with their families.
“It is with great sadness that I give you this news,” he said.
The confirmed death toll was raised from 15, while 10 people previously reported missing were located. Only one victim has been identified.
The freight train carrying oil crashed on Saturday after rolling down a hill from a nearby town and flying off a curve in the track, sparking a massive inferno that tore through part of Lac-Megantic, a town of 6,000 located east of Montreal near the US border.
The massive blaze forced about 2,000 residents to flee their homes, though many of them started returning on Tuesday.
Workers combing through the debris at the crash scene (Image: Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press/Press Association)
Earlier the railway owner said a lone engineer had failed to set brakes properly on the train.
“Adequate hand brakes were not set on this train and it was the engineer’s responsibility to set them,” Edward Burkhardt, chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said while visiting the scene.
Had the hand brakes been properly applied, he told reporters, “we wouldn’t have had this incident.”
The freight train had been stopped for a crew change in the nearby town of Nantes when it began to roll downhill without a conductor towards Lac-Megantic, several kilometers away.
It derailed at a curve in the tracks and several cars exploded.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets residents while visiting the emergency centre on Sunday (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press/Press Association)
Burkhardt had previously blamed firefighters in Nantes for the disaster, saying they unwittingly unlocked the train’s air brakes when they shut down the main locomotive’s engines to douse a small unrelated fire hours before the disaster.
He said Wednesday that the shutdown of the air brakes “was an important causal factor in this whole thing.”
But he added, “The fact that when the air brakes released on the locomotive the train ran away would indicate that the hand brakes were not properly applied.”
Burkhardt also said that he feels the Nantes firefighters had done “what they thought was correct” in turning off the locomotive’s engine.
The train’s engineer has been suspended without pay while he is under investigation. “I don’t think he’ll be back working for us. That is my personal opinion,” Burkhardt said.
Part of the disaster zone remains off-limits as police and federal transportation officials comb through the smoldering debris for evidence, while Quebec announced Can$60 million (€45.35 million) for emergency aid and reconstruction.
Canadian flags have been ordered to fly at half mast at federal offices across Quebec and atop the parliament in Ottawa for one week.
Poor man, they are lookin for a scapegoat.
If he failed to do his job properly, he deserves it.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget to do things in your job. I know the hand brake is a basic responsibility. I do feel sorry for him as we’ll as all the people who died and their families. Rip
Your first job as an engineer is to retire without killing anybody.
How many people meddled with the train during the FIRST fire which happened AFTER it was parked up and the engineer had gone to his hotel?
Yes I understand this engineer may have been wrong so he will suffer the wrath of the legal system. I am a truck driver & if i have a fatal accident im the first to be investigated as there is more evivdence to be had from trucks about their speed driving time or whatever. Just like this engineer if there is something not right even if it has no bearing on the accident its off to jail. Unless your in that position you cannot comment on wether it is the correct outcome. They need a scapegoat your the only one in line so your f##ked. I have a friend that refused to drive a defective vehicle last week. Hes unemployed now as they found someone that did.
I live in Quebec far from that tragedy, it really was an inferno. For those who haven’t seen what it looked like, check this eye witness video http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/07/09/quebec-lac-megantic-eyewitness-video.html
Get ur friend to sue that company, and name and shame them. Cowboys.
Living in Boston atm and I’m shocked at the lack of coverage this is receiving over here. Absolutely horrific event all round. It’s so strange people aren’t talking about it over here
Travyon Martin is much more important to the vultures, not to mention it’s a US rail Co and therefore that’s too sensitive right now… Lastly, it happened in Canada (Where, hey…?) so who cares here…
If I understand correctly it rolled 7 Kms was there no way of blocking, derailing it. Would till have gone up in flames, but at least not in a populated area?
I doubt it ….7kms isn’t far really, very hard to try get a plan in place in such a short length of time. Not sure how fast if was travelling but assuming it was going pretty damn fast to derail it would have done the 7km in less than 5 minutes.
No one was aware that it was a runaway train. The drivers had gone off to their hotel for the night. To other people it was just a train running along the tracks.
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