Explosive: Balls of fire and thick smoke fill the sky above Lac Megantic after a train carrying crude oil derailed
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 ...
Dude, where’s my train?
After viewing photos of the town center, I fear a good number of the missing 60 are incinerated.
Oh, my, I had not heard that number missing. That is really bad/sad.
But a pipeline would destroy the environment....
Holy carp! An “unmanned” train? Carrying oil?
I hate myself for thinking his way, but a story like this and I find myself looking for Mid-Eastern names.
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.
Can they thank The Obammunist for this because he refuses to build the XL pipeline?
“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?
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
Getting relatively little news here in the states.
I didn’t know crude oil could explode like that. I would have thought it was liquid natural gas.
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!
Several meters meaning more than a couple but less than many would be a minimum of 10 feet.
Wow...are you that ignorant....”several metres” is likely 20-30 feet...
“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. “
1) ROP.
2) A good example of WHY WE NEED TO BUILD THE XL PIPELINE!!!!!
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