As many as 60 missing in Quebec crude oil train derailment

[cali]

In addition to residences, there was a nightclub, now destroyed, downtown, that was reportedly filled with people.

<snip>

An explosion ripped through a small Quebec town early Saturday, destroying dozens of buildings and triggering a large-scale evacuation and search for missing residents after a train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire.

Authorities haven't said whether there were any casualties related to the accident, but local media has reported as many as 60 residents missing and up to 30 buildings destroyed. The scale of the explosion and evacuation already would rank the accident as one of the most dramatic rail incidents in North America in recent years.

The train, operated by Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Inc., a unit of privately held Rail World Inc., of Rosemont, Ill., derailed in Lac Megantic, Quebec. Oil has leaked into the town's namesake lake and a nearby river.

Numerous cars have derailed, said Canada's Transportation Safety Board, which has deployed a team of investigators. The derailment is the latest in a string of railroad mishaps involving crude oil shipments in Canada and the U.S., amid a boom in North American crude production and crude shipments by rail.

<snip>
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html

<snip>

French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada said one building at the center of town was a bar popular with young people. An eyewitness told the broadcaster the town center had been crowded at the time of the derailment.

<snip>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/06/us-train-idUSBRE96505L20130706

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. Nightmare

[enlightenment]

2. Oh, damn.

I hope this isn't the reality. I had heard there were missing, but got the impression it was a few - not dozens.

This is an awful tragedy, even without loss of life. A small community, devastated.

[bluedigger]

3. That poor little town.

Everyone is going to be devastated.

[morningfog]

4. That's horrible. So sad.

[laundry_queen]

5. It's really awful

on tv one of the people interviewed (from the town, I think) mentioned a possibility of up to 100 missing then said to not quote him but that's the 'new' number. I'm sure over time that will go down as they locate some people who weren't even in the area and have no idea what has happened and are fine, but even if 1 person dead, that's too much. From what I understand, the train wasn't even moving at the time. Strange. In a small town like that, everyone will know someone who is hurt or affected in some way.

[FarCenter]

7. In the West, TX fertilizer explosion, estimates ranged up to 60 killed.

But the final death toll was 15.

[laundry_queen]

9. Yeah, I was actually thinking about that as I wrote the post

Like I said, they will probably find people 'missing' who are just out camping for the weekend or some such thing. Hopefully the numbers go down similarly.

[kenny blankenship]

6. They're not missing.

they're greasing the skids for the Keystone XL pipeline.
"We have to have that pipeline, or the tar slurry will be carried by rail and rail lines run through populated areas, and derailments are inevitable" Yknow, like pipeline ruptures are not inevitable too.

"If a safe, clean pipeline is the result of this tragedy, they shall not have died in vain!"

Sorry, just bracing up for the inevitable RW propaganda barrage.

[laundry_queen]

8. I wrote about that in another post

pipelines are marginally safer for people (IF IF IF they are well maintained! and that's a BIG IF when oil companies cheap out on corrosion treatment), but yes, they explode too (we narrowly missed one once travelling through a town in northern BC). The only option is different energy sources. We cannot continue like this. We have the technology, now we need the infrastructure. None of that will happen with the current political systems in place.