The disaster that struck Lac-Megantic in Eastern Quebec continues to unfold.
Summarizing from local live network coverage and French news sources, here is what is being reported tonight.
The official death toll is now at 5.
The Fire Services of the town of Nantes responded to a call to put out a fire at the siding where the runaway cars originated from. This comes after eye-witness reports tell of seeing the train being driven to Nantes about 2 hours before and seeing a fire aboard one of the locomotives. Nobody is wiling to speculate on whether the 2 incidents are related. Some reports are saying that the fire was related to a diesel line.
From the Montreal Maine & Atlantic Company press release:
While the governmental investigation of the accident's cause has largely prevented MMA from completing its own investigation, one fact that has emerged is the locomotive of the oil train parked at Nantes station was shut down subsequent to the departure of the engineer who had handled the train from Farnham, which may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place.
So someone other than the engineer shut something down, huh? I'd really hate to be that someone right now. The siding at Nantes being on higher ground than Lac-Megantic, the cars rolled down and never made the turn in the town itself. Many people along the train line saw train without lights rolling at high speed toward the town before the explosion. Company spokesperson on teevee specified that the train itself had rolled through Megantic safely and that the cars detached and rolled back into town afterwards.
This is the second incident in the region involving MMA trains. A 13,000 liter spill happened on June 11 of this year in nearby Frontenac.
Summary is all mine, translated from French news services. I get most of my info here, and please do follow the link and scroll down to read MM&A's English press release :
http://www.radio-canada.ca/...
You can read through a complete report (pics, vids, eye-witness reports, etc.) in English on CBC News here:
http://www.cbc.ca/...
Apologies for the short diary, but dammit Jim, I'm a lurker, not a diarist. And please cut me some slack for having to use the words "official death toll" in my first one.
I am sure many of you will have the people of this town in your thoughts tonight, as I do.
