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 ...
This is terrible, indeed. Of course, there will be much disappointment in the liberal enviro-nut camps as a result of this. Afterall, we don’t need a pipeline when we’ve got uncle Warren’s super safe trains to transport oil.
Well folks, tell me, how many people died in the last pipeline rupture? Cickets....chirp.....chirp
The explosions could have been BLEVE’s
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bleve+video&qpvt=bleve+video&FORM=VDRE
Crude oil could explode under conditions that create BLEVE’s.
Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.
That’s a bit more than 6 feet! Yow. Prayers up for the people of Quebec.
But obviously most crude contains some straight run gasoline and other lighter hydrocarbons that could easily vaporize, mix with oxygen and be explosive.
The line used to belong to Canadian Pacific; they sold off the Atlantic route that cut though Maine as the shortest route between Montréal and Halifax.
Thank God they didn’t let them build a pipeline.
We had 1 killed here near Napoleon Michigan a couple of weeks ago. It was pure “pilot error”. A driver delivering equipment to a gas well ran over a valve that was sticking up out of the ground and died from burns.
And then we had this idiot protesting by crawling inside the Embridge pipeline during reconstruction.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3034986/posts
“MMA connects with seven Class I, regional and local railroads and provides the shortest, most-direct rail link between Northern Maine, Saint John, New Brunswick and Montreal. In addition, MMA offers excellent access to port facilities on the Atlantic at Saint John, New Brunswick and Searsport, Maine.”
http://mmarail.com/profile_main.php
Yes, I did not think crude oil would explode like that, but a crack on one of the cars can let out fumes and they explode.
was wondering if it was the John Galt line...
I fear you are right.
Thanks for the BLEVE info. Certainly looks like that was the case considering that the train was on fire before the derailment. Another source says it was a run-a-way train that got away from its crew while waiting for a crew change.
Yikes! It seems like they’d want someone at the controls at all times. Unreal.
I hope the Republicans don’t let this disaster go to waste in getting the pipeline approved........
Time is money.
The cargo value and equipment investment should be easily high enough to have the train manned at all times and moving along as quickly as possible.
Yet trains are about the most efficient way to move most freight cross country (Aside from things like oil and gas)
strange reports on this one. Engineer says he parked the train. Who set this train to rolling?
Oh wait . . .
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