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 ...
See post 13 and it gets even odder.
Thanks creek ... going there.
Looks like something is up. Thanks ... info needs and verifications needed. Listening up there Mounties?
Our Glorious Premier doesn’t like pipelines.
Pray for America to Wake Up
Locomotives do not uncouple by themselves.
Train cars do not start rolling on their own sans locomotive.
Disgruntled ex-employee or AQ?
I am with you. This is strange. Crude hauls in less than a 100 psi tankcar. Not high pressure like propane or butane. Keep shaking my head. So many exploded. Wow.
What a terrible thing to say :(
Truly disappointing words from something truly tragic.
Awful. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
I understand the tragedy, and prayers to all concerned...but can journalists PLEASE stop making such glaring errors in their copy?
Looks like West, Texas after the fertilizer explosion. I hope the Canadian PM does more than Odinga did to help the locals.
The Cannadians have the same silly notion that a train driver should not drive more than 8 hours and then rest for 16 hours like our department of transportation does, I suspect, and they no longer carry cabooses to have co drivers sleep while the other drives.
I am just more honest than the rest.
Uh... that photo shows what is probably a stack fire on a locomotive.
Given that the locomotives were decoupled from the tank cars before the tank cars hit town, it seems to be a stretch that it was a big Molotov cocktail..
Probably pretty easy to perpetrate however with no one guarding the train.
“Wow...are you that ignorant....”several metres” is likely 20-30 feet...”
Two meters are precisely 6.56168 feet. Three is precisely 9.84252 feet.
it would be 3.28084 times a several feet...
We were in the Dollarama store that was one of the first buildings destroyed in the inferno. They didn't have the map of Quebec we were looking for, so we went up the street to Canadian Tire where we got one.
The large church you see in some of the photos was worth a stop for a while to listen. They were change ringing the bells.
Knowing the business district with perhaps apartments above the stores, and the number of people who were around that area on a chilly rainy day a few weeks ago, I'd be surprised if the death toll doesn't go quite high.
I hope the nice lady in the Dollarama who helped us in broken English (and we with our sparse French), made it out ok.
Even though Main Street, where the explosion happened is close to Lac Megantic (the lake), it should be far enough (a few blocks), so the spillage can be stopped before it reaches the lake.
After spending some time in the middle of town, we stopped for our noon meal at a great little restaurant.
The waitress spoke no English, but was very helpful.
I wanted some Poutine, or Poutee, depending on who spells it.
This is a wonderful French Canadian dish I had heard of, but never tried.
The chef came out to help us, as he was the only one there who spoke any English.
The meal he delivered met and exceeded every expectation.
I forget the name of the place, but if you go by Canadian Tire on the way west out of town, the restaurant is on the right shortly thereafter.
Poutine is a dish you would only dare eat once or twice a year. In about a year or less, we'll go back up for another serving.
When we headed home a few weeks ago, from Lac Megantic, we followed Arnold's Trail for about 30 miles into Maine.
Going into Quebec was easy, the border guard asked where we were going, business or pleasure, and for how long.
I told him where, both, and the day. He said to have a nice day, and waved us on.
Returning to the USA was ridiculous. Reminded you of Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall. Makes one embarrassed to be an American.
We have become the new Soviet Union.
I hope this jars loose the politburo in Washington to get on with the pipelines.
There is a crude oil pipeline from Portland, Maine to near Montreal that passes about 1/4 mile from our house.
The local enviro-whackos have been protesting the supposed plans to reverse the flow of one or more of the pipes to send Athabasca crude to Portland, then by tanker to Houston.
Maybe this will make those clowns shut their venomous mouths.
Yes....3+ Times several feet....which to mean means about 5-7 feet....would be 15-22 feet.
“would be 15-22 feet”
Wow, look who’s ignorant now... you said 20 to 30 feet.
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