Canada - 47 killed as train explodes, Lac-Megantic, QC, 6 July 2013

[matou]

more: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ital_eerily_quiet_after_quebec_explosion.html

I read that too and went "wow". The absence of injury is because there are no injured, they're all dead. That's what I'm getting.

 

[carbuff]

I'm not sure which it is. The burning car sounds like sabotage and the engineer could have been pooped and neglected what needed to be done and checked into the hotel quickly. JMO

I was thinking of a mistake made later on, by the replacement crew or somebody in maintenance. The engineer sounds like he's in position to become a scapegoat, unfortunately.

 

[wfgodot]

The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic doesn't appear to be having problems with organized labor. Perhaps a grudge. More likely, just a mistake.

 

[wfgodot]

I read that too and went "wow". The absence of injury is because there are no injured, they're all dead. That's what I'm getting.

I lived in a city with a great military hospital, especially the burn unit. I remember seeing them out and about, in line at a convenience store, getting ready to head for NYC the night of 9/11. They were so young, so ready to help.

But they never deployed. There were few burn victims to treat. Everyone was dead.

 

[mysteriew]

Just a theory. Reports are there was a fire at 11:30 pm and the fire department was called. No word if contact was made with the transporters.

What if at the time of the fire, the fire department shut down that fifth engine? When a car is on fire, you shut it off and then put the fire out. So what if that fire was on the running engine? Could the fire department have possibly shut it down?

 

[SuziQ]

I'm not sure which it is. The burning car sounds like sabotage and the engineer could have been pooped and neglected what needed to be done and checked into the hotel quickly. JMO

ITA. Has anyone been able to figure out (from what's been reported) whether the cars disengaged before or after the fire?

 

[SuziQ]

Just a theory. Reports are there was a fire at 11:30 pm and the fire department was called. No word if contact was made with the transporters.

What if at the time of the fire, the fire department shut down that fifth engine? When a car is on fire, you shut it off and then put the fire out. So what if that fire was on the running engine? Could the fire department have possibly shut it down?

I can definitely see this happening.

 

[carbuff]

I lived in a city with a great military hospital, especially the burn unit. I remember seeing them out and about, in line at a convenience store, getting ready to head for NYC the night of 9/11. They were so young, so ready to help.

But they never deployed. There were few burn victims to treat. Everyone was dead.

Yeah. After 9/11 we had gathered a bunch of people at work and we were all driving over to the nearby hospital to donate blood. They called us and said we didn't need to come.

 

[CHERIE.T]

Saw some pics today..... Om goodness !

 

[matou]

OK here's more info:

The company has confirmed the train’s itinerary. The five locomotives and 72 wagons in the train were idled outside of the small Quebec town at 11:25 p.m. Friday evening and left unmanned to await a new crew. The conductor headed to a hotel in Lac-Mégantic.

Before the driver left, he activated the train’s air brakes and manual braking system.

A passerby called emergency services at 12:15 a.m. Saturday to report that the train was on fire. A fire crew from the village of Nantes responded and employees from the railway secured the train.

Once again unattended, the train’s air brakes failed before 1:00 a.m. and millions of litres of crude oil headed towards the unsuspecting town, the company said.

According to the railway, the train’s locomotive was “shut down subsequent to the departure of the engineer,” depriving the train’s air brakes of the power needed to keep the load from careening downhill.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ailment-explosions-in-quebec/article13057401/

 

[SuziQ]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/M%c3%a9gantic+Haunted+those+left+behind/8627835/story.html

(snip)
In an interview with The Gazette Sunday night, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway executive Yves Bourdon said the employee had in fact returned to the train as firefighters were putting out the fire, which was possibly caused by a ruptured diesel fuel line. He could not say what verifications were done after the fire was out.
In a statement issued earlier last night, the MMA said the locomotive of the oil train appears to have been shut down after the engineer on duty from Farnham to Nantes left the train and that this “may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place.” It’s unclear, however, how this could have happened.
Cyr said she can’t help wonder whether vandals — such as the graffiti taggers so often out late at night putting their mark on the railway cars — might have tampered with the train or at least have seen something that could help explain how the derailment occurred.

 

[matou]

Story of what was happening at the bar from the POV of the bar owner:

..Shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday, in the space of a few seconds, the beauty would be transformed into unimaginable horror. And his bar would become ground zero for a rail disaster that levelled the core of this lakeside town.

Mr. Gagné, 35, had left his bar at about 12:30 to relieve his babysitter at his home less than a kilometer away. About 15 minutes later, he told his wife, who had been collecting the cover charge for the show, to pack it in. They were preparing for bed when the sky lit up and a gust of scorching air blew through their open window..

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...il-disaster-that-killed-at-least-five-people/

much much more...

The babysitter he had relieved early Saturday walked by and they exchanged choked greetings. “Her mother was at the bar,” he said. “She is missing. There are connections everywhere. It’s unbelievable. As I talk to you, I get goose-bumps.”

 

[mysteriew]

OK here's more info:





http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ailment-explosions-in-quebec/article13057401/

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/M%c3%a9gantic+Haunted+those+left+behind/8627835/story.html

(snip)
In an interview with The Gazette Sunday night, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway executive Yves Bourdon said the employee had in fact returned to the train as firefighters were putting out the fire, which was possibly caused by a ruptured diesel fuel line. He could not say what verifications were done after the fire was out.
In a statement issued earlier last night, the MMA said the locomotive of the oil train appears to have been shut down after the engineer on duty from Farnham to Nantes left the train and that this “may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place.” It’s unclear, however, how this could have happened.
Cyr said she can’t help wonder whether vandals — such as the graffiti taggers so often out late at night putting their mark on the railway cars — might have tampered with the train or at least have seen something that could help explain how the derailment occurred.

Well it looks like the fire department is off the hook thank goodness.

Another issue. The cars were attached to the engines. The way I am reading it, the brakes were controlled by the engine. The brakes may have failed. But I think I read that the engine remained at the original site, it was only the cars that went to the town. So how did the cars get unhooked from the engine?

 

[mysteriew]

I've been thinking about them saying that some people may have been vaporized.

I think that is what they fear. And I guess there is a possibility. But when the explosion happened in West Texas, they found all the dead, even the firemen who were closest to the explosion.

So I believe there is hope that they will find them.

 

[SilkySifaka]

It may take years to identify bodies and some may have been completely vaporized:

Given the intensity of the fire and the heat — which razed 30 buildings and, according to some witnesses, could be felt kilometres away — it’s possible people were completely vapourized in the explosions, said Geneviève Guilbault, a spokesperson for the Quebec coroner’s office who was on site Sunday.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news...+before+missing+identified/8627124/story.html

 

[CHERIE.T]

Oh no, how horrible for the family.

 

[CHERIE.T]

Story of what was happening at the bar from the POV of the bar owner:



http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...il-disaster-that-killed-at-least-five-people/

much much more...

Heartbreaking.

 

[Snoopster]

Hereabouts [Toronto area], the Mississauga train derailment in 1979 opened a lot of eyes to dangers lurking, coming awfully close, and how colossal catastrophe could hinge on something as small as an improperly lubricated wheel bearing. This one was on the 33rd car of a 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train, creating a “hot box’’ crisis — friction burning right through the axle, wheel-set falling off, and chunks of the train jumping the track close to a suburban intersection. Several tank cars filled with propane burst into flames, the fireball shooting 1,500 up in the sky. But the greater worry was ruptured containers spewing a toxic stew into the air: chlorine and caustic soda. Some 200,000 residents were forced to blow, the largest peacetime evacuation in North America until Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans.

[insert by me]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/08/lacmegantics_tragedy_is_a_most_unnatural_disaster_dimanno.html

I lived in Mississauga back at that time. Although I happened to be away, my mother and siblings were evacuated for several days. It certainly opened everyone's eyes as to the potential magnitude of rail accidents.


Regarding Lac Megantic....

A runaway freight train? How can that happen, except in a Hollywood disaster movie, where logic and reality are sacrificed to entertainment?

 

[matou]

I hope LE grabs as many photos and videos of the train fire BEFORE it rolled down the hill. There could be clues in there somewhere, as to what happened. Also, if the fire dept came to put out the fire on the engine, maybe they detached it from the other oil tanks out of fear they could overheat and ignite? IDK, lots of possibilities here.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I can't even imagine.