Sixty missing and scores feared dead as runaway train carrying hundreds of tons of oil derails and explodes in fireball in Canadian town center

Sixty missing and scores feared dead as runaway train carrying hundreds of
tons of oil derails and explodes in fireball in Canadian town center

• 60 people believed to be missing

• About 30 buildings destroyed in Lac Megantic

• Force of blaze preventing rescue workers
  from checking for survivors

• Oil from train cars is spilling into nearby river

By Jessica Jerreat

PUBLISHED: 09:40 EST, 6 July 2013 | UPDATED: 14:10 EST, 6 July
2013

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.

About 30 buildings were destroyed and 60
people are believed to be missing, but the force of the fire has prevented
rescue workers from searching for survivors.

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.

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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

The force of the blaze has prevented
emergency workers from getting close to the damaged buildings to check for
survivors.

It is not yet known if anyone was killed or
injured in the blast, according to the Hamilton Spectator. The
Montreal Maine & Atlantic train did not have a driver and was being run on
autopilot.

The train’s conductor had parked the train
outside the train and got off it as he waited for someone to take over his
shift, when it somehow ‘got released’, the railway company’s vice-president
Josephy R. 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.

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.

‘We do fear that there are going to be
casualties,’ Sergeant Gregory Gomez del Prado, of Quebec Police, told CTV News.

Scorched: Burnt out cars and rubble can be seen as the railway cars continue
to burn

Extensive: The damage caused by the runaway train extends over a couple of
blocks in the town center

Wiped out: Piles of brick are all that remain of several buildings close to
where the rail cars exploded

Witnesses said the blast flattened an
apartment building and part of a bar, which had a terrace packed with people at
the time of the fire, according to CBC.

Yvon Rosa had just left the bar when he saw
the runaway train.

‘I have never seen a train traveling that
quickly into the center of Lac-Megantic,’ he said. ‘I saw the wagons come off
the tracks … everything exploded. In just one minute the center of the town
was covered in fire.’

The ferocity of the blaze has made
authorities fear for the safety of many of the lakeside town’s 6,000 residents.
About 120 firefighters are still trying to contain the fire in the town center.

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‘When you see the center of your town almost
destroyed, you’ll understand that we’re asking ourselves how we are going to
get through this event,’ the town’s mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche, said.

‘We’re told some people are missing but they
may just be out of town or on vacation,’ Lieutenant Michel Brunet, of Quebec
police, said.

A Facebook page has been set up to help
friends and family check on their loved ones, according to the Toronto Star.

Devastation: Residents said the explosion looked the the end of the world,
as thick smoke and flames filled the sky

Rescue: As the town was evacuated residents watched in horror as the fire
spread

Destruction: About 30 buildings in the center of the town, near the border
with Maine, have burnt down

About 250 residents have taken shelter in a
Red Cross center set up in the town’s high school, and more are expected to
arrive there later today.

‘Many parents are worried because they
haven’t been able to communicate with a member of their family or an
acquaintance,’ Ms Roy-Laroche said.

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper has
sent his sympathy to the stricken town.

‘Thoughts & prayers are with those
impacted in Lac Megantic. Horrible news,’ he said on Twitter.

Flames could be seen from several miles away
as the fire spread to several homes after the 73-car Montreal Maine &
Atlantic train, which was heading towards Maine, derailed.

Zeph Kee, who lives about half an hour from
Lac-Megantic, told CBC: ‘It was total mayhem … people not finding their
kids.’

Resident Anne-Julie Hallee, who saw the
explosion, said: ‘It was like the end of
the world.’

Another resident, Claude Bedard, said: ‘It’s
terrible. We’ve never seen anything like it. The Metro store, Dollarama,
everything that was there is gone.’

Still burning: Flames and smoke pour from one of the wagons hours after the
derailment

Locator: The Montreal Maine & Atlantic train derailed about 250km from
Montreal

Doused: Water is sprayed on to a burning rail car close to the railway track

Rubble: The remains of a building flattened in the blast can be seen through
the smoke

Some of the oil has leaked into a lake and
the Chaudiere River, and plumes of thick smoke can be seen from about 10km
away, nearly 10 hours after the blast.  

A 1km section of the town has been cordoned
off and boats have been banned from coming close on the river, after flames were
allegedly seen in two aqueducts.

‘We have a mobile laboratory here to monitor
the quality of the air,’ Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette
said.

‘Firefighters are working hard to extinguish
that fire, but it’s burning hard because of the crude oil,’ Gergeant Gomez del
Prado said,adding that it would take a while for the fire to be
contained. 

‘We also have a spill on the lake and the
river that is concerning us. We have advised the local municipalities
downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudiere River.’

Firefighters have set up a perimeter around
the town as they try to tackle the blaze, which was caused when four of the
cars that were pressurized blew up.

Derailment: Smoke is still filling the streets around where the 73-car
freight train derailed

Pollution: Environmental workers are monitoring the plumes of smoke, as well
as contamination of a river

‘There are still wagons which we think are
pressurized. We’re not sure because we can’t get close, so we’re working on the
assumption that all the cars were pressurized and could explode. That’s why
progress is slow and tough,’ local fire chief Denis Lauzon said.

The cause of the derailment is not yet known.
The railway company’s Mr McGonigle, said the middle section of the train had
derailed, the Montreal Gazette said.

Investigators are headed to the town to begin
gathering information and statements from witnesses.

• Explosions rock Quebec town of Lac-Megantic after train
  derailment

• Train explodes in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec forcing residents
  to flee

• Casualties feared after derailment sparks explosions, fire
  in Quebec town

• Quebec town rocked by explosions, fire after derailment

• Train carrying crude oil derails, explodes

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