Canadian police now believe that about 50 people were killed
in Saturday’s train disaster in Quebec. So far, 20 bodies have been found after
a runaway train carrying 72 tankers of oil was derailed and then exploded at
Lac-Megantic.
At least 30 buildings were flattened, and about 2,000 people
had to flee from their homes. The chief
executive of the train operating company says they believed the driver had
failed to apply a set of hand brakes.
The operating company also suggested that firefighters bore
part of the blame after they were called to put out a fire on the train late on
Friday night as it was parked about 7 miles from the scene of the accident.
One of the most disastrous train explosions of all time came on
the Trans-Siberian Railway on June 4, 1989, when leaking gas from an oil
pipeline ignited as two trains were passing near the town of Ufa. One train was
blown into the path of the other, and over 3 miles, the landscape was turned
into a wasteland, while up to 800 people died.
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