20 people confirmed dead in Quebec train carnage; train engineer suspended
Posted Jul 11, 2013 3:40 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. – The official death toll in the Lac-Megantic, Quebec rail disaster has risen to 20, and there are fears the explosions and massive fire has killed as many as 50 people.
Quebec provincial police say 30 people listed as missing and are likely dead.
Police say just one victim has been identified so far, although that person’s identity has not been made public.
Meantime, residents directed their anger at the president of the rail company at the centre of the Lac-Megantic tragedy as he visited the community.
Ed Burkhardt admitted the handbrakes on his company’s train might not have been applied properly. Tom Harding, an employee of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, has been suspended without pay.
Upon his arrival, more than four days after the fiery crash, Burkhardt was heckled by angry residents of the town where dozens are feared to have died.
Burkhardt promised the company’s full assistance.
Survivors of the Lac-Megantic disaster are dealing with an array of property losses that range in size from homes to i-Phones.
A variety of parties have offered to pitch in financially to help rebuild the material things in a community that has lost its downtown and many of its residents.
The Quebec government has promised a three-tiered, $60 million plan that Premier Pauline Marois says is only a starting point.
And the company that owns the runaway train that caused the disaster is also promising to help with the Lac-Megantic’s reconstruction.
