Canada Train Derailment

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angelwing
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Canada Train Derailment

#1 Postby angelwing » Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:30 am

Situation Update No. 5

Posted:2013-07-06, 17:44:16 [UTC]

Ref.no.: EX-20130706-39921-CAN

Situation Update No. 5
On 2013-07-08 at 10:00:57 [UTC]

Event:
Location: Lac Megantic Province of Quebec Canada


Number of Deads: 5 person(s)
Number of Injured: 128 person(s)
Number of Missing: 40 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 6000 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation:
A Quebec town devastated when a runaway oil tanker train ignited explosions and fires braced Monday for what authorities assured would be a rising death toll as fire crews tried to reach the hardest hit areas more than two days after the disaster. Five were dead and about 40 people remained missing. The growing number of trains transporting crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major derailment, and this one was sure to add to the debate over a proposed cross-U.S. oil pipeline Canada says it badly needs. All but one of the train's 73 tanker cars were carrying oil when they somehow came loose early Saturday morning, sped downhill nearly seven miles into the town near the Maine border, derailed and began exploding one by one. At least five blew. Worries remained late Sunday over the status of two oil-filled train cars at the scene. They were being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating. "This is an unbelievable disaster," said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who toured the town Sunday and compared it to a war zone. "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." The downtown bar area had been bustling at the time of the crash. Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard said only a small part of the devastated scene had been searched Sunday as firefighters made sure all flames were out. About a third of the community of 6,000 was forced out of their homes. Locals were convinced the death toll was far higher than five. Anne-Julie Huot, 27, said at least five friends and about 20 acquaintances remained unaccounted for.
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#2 Postby HurricaneBill » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:13 am

Death toll has risen to 13 and 50 are missing.

Lac-Megantic residents recall moment of explosion
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#3 Postby HurricaneBill » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:22 am

Image
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#4 Postby HurricaneBill » Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:22 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zslOC_uW3H4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtZj8YMAeMQ[/youtube]
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#5 Postby angelwing » Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:40 am

Situation Update No. 6

Posted:2013-07-06, 17:44:16 [UTC]

Ref.no.: EX-20130706-39921-CAN

Situation Update No. 6
On 2013-07-09 at 03:14:47 [UTC]

Event:
Location: Lac Megantic Province of Quebec Canada


Number of Deads: 13 person(s)
Number of Injured: 128 person(s)
Number of Missing: 50 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 6000 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation:
At least 13 people have been confirmed dead in the devastating oil train accident that happened in Quebec, Canada, and the death is expected to rise, officials said today. The number of missing people was now "around 50." Earlier, they said the number of missing was around 40 individuals. Investigators said they are still working to locate the missing people. The bodies that have been found were burned to "just bones," police said today. The town of Lac-Megantic, east of Montreal, was consumed by fire on Saturday when a cargo train parked uphill from the town broke free, barrelled towards it and derailed. The 73-car train carried up to 1 million gallons of crude oil that ignited when the train derailed, causing a fireball that engulfed the town. Rescue workers are still hoping to make their way through the smoldering rubble to locate the missing individuals, many of whom are believed to have been at a local bar, Le Musi-Cafe, when the crash happened. Benoit said he expects the death toll to rise once they get to the site of the bar. Investigators could not reach the bar site because of still-smoldering hot spots, he said. The derailment caused fires throughout the town that devastated more than 30 buildings and sent up to 2,000 residents fleeing. Investigators have recovered two black boxes from the train since the crash and are working to determine how the crash occurred, they said Monday. The railway company responsible for the train, Rail World Inc., said that the train's engineer had put the proper brakes on the train when parking it uphill of Lac-Megantic. The company said that a locomotive shutdown might have released the train's airbrakes that were supposed to hold it in place overnight, setting it free on the tracks.
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#6 Postby vbhoutex » Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:38 pm

This is so tragic!!! Many prayers going up for the entire town.
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#7 Postby HurricaneBill » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:39 am

The loss of the library (#3 in the before and after photos) means a lot of history lost, too.

Lac-Megantic casualties include Quebec town's history
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#8 Postby HurricaneBill » Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:01 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRb3JHsiqfA[/youtube]
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#9 Postby brunota2003 » Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:08 pm

I heard on the news that now the train company is eyeing the employee, believing he failed to properly set the train's brake system.
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#10 Postby angelwing » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:08 am

Situation Update No. 8

Posted:2013-07-06, 17:44:16 [UTC]

Ref.no.: EX-20130706-39921-CAN

Situation Update No. 8
On 2013-07-11 at 05:57:20 [UTC]

Event:
Location: Lac Megantic Province of Quebec Canada


Number of Deads: 20 person(s)
Number of Injured: 128 person(s)
Number of Missing: 30 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 6000 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation:
Twenty people have been confirmed dead and 30 others remain unaccounted for following the train disaster in Canada's Quebec province, police say. Quebec provincial police inspector Michel Forget said on Wednesday that a total of 50 people were 'missing and most probably dead', in the worst train accident in recent Canadian history. Part of Lac-Megantic was flattened in an inferno caused by the crash, as a wall of fire tore through homes and businesses in the town, located east of Montreal, near the United States border. The blaze forced about 2,000 residents to flee their homes in the town, which is home to 6,000 people. Most of them have started returning. The freight train operated by Montreal, Maine Atlantic Railway had been stopped for a crew change in the nearby town of Nantes when it began to roll downhill, without a conductor, towards Lac-Megantic. It derailed at a curve in the tracks and several cars exploded. MMA chairman, Edward Burkhardt, has blamed firefighters in Nantes for the disaster, saying they unwittingly unlocked the train's brakes when they shut down the locomotive's engines to douse a small fire. Mr Burkhardt is likely to face angry residents and questions from police probing for criminal negligence when he arrives in Lac-Megantic to survey the devastation.
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SaskatchewanScreamer

#11 Postby SaskatchewanScreamer » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:30 am

Now they are reporting that the manual handbrakes weren't applied by the engineer.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/M%C3%A9gantic+Chairman+Burkhardt+What+said+then/8643325/story.html
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#12 Postby angelwing » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:21 am

Situation Update No. 9

Posted:2013-07-06, 17:44:16 [UTC]

Ref.no.: EX-20130706-39921-CAN

Situation Update No. 9
On 2013-07-12 at 06:27:58 [UTC]

Event:
Location: Lac Megantic Province of Quebec Canada


Number of Deads: 24 person(s)
Number of Injured: 128 person(s)
Number of Missing: 30 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 6000 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation:
The first victim of a runaway oil train's explosive derailment in a Quebec town was identified Thursday, more than five days since the disaster, which left behind a scorched scene so dangerous that it slowed the search for 50 people presumed dead. Quebec's premier toured the traumatized town and sharply criticized the U.S. railway's chief for not responding in person more quickly to Canada's worst railway disaster in nearly 150 years. Police said four more bodies had been found, bringing the total found to 24. The first victim to be identified by the coroner's office was 93-year-old Eliane Parenteau, who lived in the disaster zone in downtown Lac-Megantic. Those who knew her described her as being active for her age. The devastated downtown remained dangerous for days after the crash as responders put out fires and struggled to keep the remaining oil tankers cool so they wouldn't explode. The hazardous conditions delayed the search for the missing - and now for bodies. Officials also have warned that identifications would be made more difficult by the incinerated scene.rnrnConditions had at least improved enough for nearly all the 2,000 residents forced to evacuate after the crash - a third of the population- to return home, the town's mayor said. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois arrived in town and renewed her criticism of Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of U.S.-based Rail World Inc., which owns the runaway train. "The leader of this company should have been there from the beginning," Marois said at a news conference. Burkhardt arrived in town for the first time Wednesday with a police escort, facing jeers from residents. Burkhardt has said he delayed his visit to deal with the crisis from his Chicago office, saying he was better able to communicate from there. "I understand the extreme anger," he said. "We owe an abject apology to the people in this town." He has blamed the engineer for failing to set the brakes properly before the unmanned train hurtled down a seven-mile (11-kilometer) incline, derailed and ignited. All but one of its 73 cars was carrying oil, and at least five exploded.rnrnBurkhardt said the engineer had been suspended without pay and was under "police control." Burkhardt did not name the engineer, though the company had previously identified the employee as Tom Harding of Quebec. Harding has not spoken publicly since the crash. Anger at the railway officials among residents appeared to mount Thursday. Lac-Megantic's mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche, said a hoped-for meeting with Burkhardt didn't materialize. "I am angry with the fact that he did not communicate with me sooner," she said. At Burkhardt's head office, an aide said no snub of the mayor was intended. "There's been a misunderstanding on that issue," said Cathy Aldana. "Our people have been in contact with mayor's office daily, and I know Mr. Burkhardt wanted to see her personally." Investigators are also looking at a fire on the same train just hours before the disaster. A fire official has said the train's power was shut down as standard operating procedure, meaning the train's air brakes would have been disabled. In that case, hand brakes on individual train cars would have been needed. The derailment is Canada's worst railway disaster since a train plunged into a Quebec river in 1864, killing 99. The crash has raised questions about the rapidly growing use of rail to transport oil in North America, especially in the booming North Dakota oil fields and Alberta oil sands far from the sea.
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SaskatchewanScreamer

#13 Postby SaskatchewanScreamer » Fri Jul 12, 2013 10:57 am

A well thought of railway forum that has been covering this horrific disaster.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=151084
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SaskatchewanScreamer

#14 Postby SaskatchewanScreamer » Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:26 am

Provincial police and Transportation Safety Board of Canada officials are conducting parallel investigations into the crash. The TSB will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. to update its investigation. Police have already hinted that their investigation has uncovered enough evidence to lay criminal charges.

A candlelight vigil is being organized in 60 cities across Quebec, Friday at 8 pm.


http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2013/07/12/lac-megantic-horror-stories-man-witnessed-explosion-that-killed-partner-daughters
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Re: Canada Train Derailment

#15 Postby Stephanie » Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:29 pm

This is so awful and those videos posted by HurricaneBill are eye opening to say the least.

My thoughts and prayers for the people of Quebec. With something so hazardous moving through any town, there should not be any kind room for error and it should be handled by someone that has worked with this material before.
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