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One dead and sixty missing as runaway train carrying hundreds of tons of oil derails and explodes...
The London Daily Mail ^ | July 6, 2013 | Jessica Jerreat

Posted on 07/06/2013 4:37:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The center of a Quebec town has been wiped out, according to the mayor, after a runaway freight train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in a fireball at 1am on Saturday.

One person was killed and about 30 buildings were destroyed as the unmanned train exploded. About 60 people are believed to be missing, but the force of the fire has slowed rescue efforts.

Parts of the town were evacuated in the early hours as fireballs shot several-metres in the air, flames spread to nearby homes and thick acrid smoke filled the air in Lac-Megantic, which is close to the Maine border and about 250km from Montreal.

The name of the person killed in the blaze, caused by a runaway Montreal Maine & Atlantic train, has not yet been named.

The train's conductor, who was in a hotel at the town at the time of the crash, is being questioned by police, according to CTV News.

He had parked the train in Nantes, about 12km away, as he waited for someone to take over his shift, when it somehow 'got released', the railway company's vice-president Joseph McGonigle said.

'We're not sure what happened, but the engineer did everything by the book. He had parked the train and was waiting for his relief,' he added.

The train's engine was found about 1km from where the explosions took place, creating what authorities have described as 'a war zone'.

About 30 shops and homes in the town center, including the library and local weekly newspaper's office, were destroyed by the fire, which is being dealt with by firefighters from Quebec and Maine.

'Words cannot tell the damage that had been done,' Sergeant Gregory Gomez del Prado, of Quebec Police, said. 'Many, many buildings have been damaged. It’s a catastrophe for the town.....

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Canada
KEYWORDS: canada; explosion; fatalities; oil
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Terrible.
1 posted on 07/06/2013 4:37:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Dude, where’s my train?


2 posted on 07/06/2013 4:39:33 PM PDT by IrishPennant (Excuse me...Here's your nose. I found it in my business....agian!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Is this Obama’s buddies train? BNSF?
Warren Buffet does not want any sinking pipelines!
3 posted on 07/06/2013 4:40:28 PM PDT by Kansas58
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

After viewing photos of the town center, I fear a good number of the missing 60 are incinerated.


4 posted on 07/06/2013 4:40:30 PM PDT by Rebelbase (Our parents: The Greatest Generation. Their kids and grand kids: The Stupidest.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh, my, I had not heard that number missing. That is really bad/sad.


5 posted on 07/06/2013 4:40:48 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. I am a Christian, not a Muslim.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

But a pipeline would destroy the environment....


6 posted on 07/06/2013 4:41:24 PM PDT by freebilly (Creepy and the Ass Crackers....)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Holy carp! An “unmanned” train? Carrying oil?


7 posted on 07/06/2013 4:47:31 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (If America is a nation of immigrants, where's my free stuff?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hate myself for thinking his way, but a story like this and I find myself looking for Mid-Eastern names.


8 posted on 07/06/2013 4:47:35 PM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I've been to Quebec City (Old Quebec) and it's like you just entered old time France (been there, too). The buildings are old and beautiful and it's built on a hill with some buildings up and some down, go down and up stairs or a gizmo that moves you from up to down. I have a plate from there on my wall of plates and a beautiful cup and saucer with Quebec facts on it, cup/saucer is cream and gold - beautiful pieces.

If this train had to do that, I'm glad it didn't happen to Quebec City. We traveled by train from Montreal to Quebec City. The train station is right in the middle of Quebec City. Perhaps a freight train doesn't take that route through Quebec City, or maybe it does - train track is train track.

9 posted on 07/06/2013 4:51:48 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. I am a Christian, not a Muslim.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Can they thank The Obammunist for this because he refuses to build the XL pipeline?


10 posted on 07/06/2013 4:52:52 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Parts of the town were evacuated in the early hours as fireballs shot several-metres in the air”

Wow, isn’t that about six feet?


11 posted on 07/06/2013 4:53:37 PM PDT by babygene ( .)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Fireball: A cloud of fire is blasted into the sky above Lac Megantic after a freight train exploded


Explosive: Balls of fire and thick smoke fill the sky above Lac Megantic after a train carrying crude oil derailed


12 posted on 07/06/2013 4:55:52 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
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To: Kansas58
The train was MMA but the string of sweet crude cars was likely coming from NDakota headed to a refinery in Atlantic Canada.

I found one guy who claims that the (unattended) train was on fire an hour before the 73 tank cars hit town going faster than the track curvature was rated.

https://twitter.com/MrHuchette/status/353555167897071617/photo/1


13 posted on 07/06/2013 4:58:22 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Getting relatively little news here in the states.


14 posted on 07/06/2013 4:58:33 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: COBOL2Java

I didn’t know crude oil could explode like that. I would have thought it was liquid natural gas.


15 posted on 07/06/2013 4:59:56 PM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: Paladin2

Yes, the MMA website says that they “link” with, I think, 7 “major” rail companies so it looks like BNSF could still be involved.
Horrible tragedy, but lets not let this go to waste if we can blame it on libs!


16 posted on 07/06/2013 5:02:17 PM PDT by Kansas58
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To: babygene

Several meters meaning more than a couple but less than many would be a minimum of 10 feet.


17 posted on 07/06/2013 5:02:55 PM PDT by Valpal1 (If the police can t solve a problem with brute force, they ll find a way to fix it with brute force)
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To: babygene

Wow...are you that ignorant....”several metres” is likely 20-30 feet...


18 posted on 07/06/2013 5:03:01 PM PDT by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: Kansas58

“The railroad is under the supervision of Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic. The company owns around 500 miles of track across Maine
and Vermont in the US, as well as in Quebec and New Brunswick in
Canada. “


19 posted on 07/06/2013 5:03:09 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

1) ROP.
2) A good example of WHY WE NEED TO BUILD THE XL PIPELINE!!!!!


20 posted on 07/06/2013 5:03:19 PM PDT by 50sDad (A Liberal prevents me from telling you anything here.)
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