LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec - As firefighters doused still-burning oil tanker cars, more bodies were recovered Sunday in the devastated town in eastern Quebec, raising the death toll to five after a runaway train derailed, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district.
With about 40 people still missing after the derailment, police said a higher death toll was inevitable and authorities feared the number might soar once they’re able to reach the hardest-hit areas.
Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet confirmed two more deaths early Sunday afternoon after confirming two people were found dead overnight. One death was confirmed Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper compared the area to a war zone and said about 30 buildings were incinerated. Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard said only a small part of the devastated area had been searched Sunday, more than a day since the accident, because firefighters were making sure all fires were out.
“This is an unbelievable disaster,” said Harper, who toured the town Sunday. “This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn’t a family that is not affected by this.”
Fires were preventing rescuers from reaching part of the 73-car train, and billowing black smoke could still be seen long after the derailment.
The eruptions early Saturday morning sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.
Local Fire Chief Denis Lauzon said two of the five cars that exploded were still on fire 36 hours later. He said firefighters are staying 500 feet from the burning tankers, which are being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating and exploding.
“It’s a mess,” he said.
The multiple blasts cameover a span of several hours in the town of 6,000, which is about 155 miles east of Montreal and about 10 miles west of the Maine border. About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker cars laden with oil caught fire in the picturesque lakeside town in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.
The derailment caused several tanker rail cars to explode in the downtown district, a popular area packed with bars that often bustles on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after midnight Central time. The fire then spread to several homes.
Brunet said he couldn’t say where the bodies were found exactly because the families have not been notified.
The cause of the accident was believed to be a runaway train, the railway’s operator said. Edward Burkhardt, the president and CEO of Rail World Inc., the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic. The tanker cars then sped downhill into the town before derailing.
“If brakes aren’t properly applied on a train, it’s going to run away,” said Burkhardt. “But we think the brakes were properly applied on this train.”
Burkhardt, who was mystified by the disaster, said the train was parked because the engineer had finished his run.
“We’ve had a very good safety record for these 10 years,” he said of the decade-old railroad. “Well, I think we’ve blown it here.”
Lines of tall trees in the area looked like giant standing matchsticks, blackened from bottom to tip. Witnesses said the eruptions shook residents out of their slumber and sent them darting through the streets.
Patrons gathered at a nearby bar were sent running for their lives after the thunderous crash and wall of fire blazed through the early morning sky.
Bernard Theberge, who was outside on the bar’s patio at the time of the crash, feared for the safety of those inside the popular Musi-Cafe when the first explosion went off.
“People started running, and the fire ignited almost instantaneously,” he said.
“It was like a movie,” said Theberge, who considered himself fortunate to escape with only second-degree burns on his right arm. “Explosions as if it were scripted - but this was live.”
Firefighters and rescue workers from several neighboring municipalities, including Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, werecalled in to help deal with the disaster. Firefighters from northern Maine were also deployed to the Quebec town, according to a spokesman at the sheriff’s office in Franklin County.
Last week a train carrying petroleum products derailed in Calgary, Alberta, when a flood-damaged bridge sagged toward the still-swollen Bow River. The derailed rail cars were removed without spilling their cargo.
The Quebec accident was likely to have an impact across the border. In Maine, environmentalists and state officials had previously raised concerns about the threat of an accident and a spill from railroad tank cars carrying crude oil across the state.
The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway carried nearly 3 million barrels of oil across Maine last year. Each tank car holds some 30,000 gallons of oil.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has begun developing protection plans for the areas where the trains travel, spokesman Samantha Warren said recently. Information for this article was contributed by Rob Gillies and Charmaine Noronha from The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 07/08/2013