Lac Megantic Rail Disaster

[Doug_G]

Train carrying crude oil derails and explodes in Quebec town.

Quebec town rocked by explosions, fire after derailment - Montreal - CBC News

• 1,000 evacuated from their homes
• 1-kilometre wide security perimeter
• Several missing, feared dead
• Over 100 firefighters battle flames

 

[dpeilow]

Quebec

BBC News - Petrochemical train explodes in Quebecs Lac-Megantic

 

[PatP]

I live in Québec and it's a huge tragedy. There's 60 people missing. Half of the city downtown is destroyed.

 

[sp4rk]

Don't understand ... why was the train unattended?

 

[Doug_G]

Apparently the crew had parked the train for the night, locked the brakes, and went off to hotels to sleep. Reportedly there were five engines, most or all of which were still parked where they had been left for the night. The rest of the train detached and started slowly drifting downhill. By the time the reached Lac Megantic they were going fast enough that they derailed and kaboom.

Seems to me there will be criminal charges, regardless of whether this was an "accident".

 

[carogan]

Do you need a reason to hate our petroleum based economy? Here's one - Lac Megantic

At 01:15am EDT on July 6, 2013 in the picturesque little 6000 person town of Lac-Mégantic, located in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec an unattended 73-car freight train carrying crude oil ran away and derailed in the heart of the downtown core.

The consequence of this mishap was apocalyptic as dozens of tank cars exploded and caught fire.

37 people are confirmed dead with 13 more missing and presumed dead. More than 30 buildings in the town's centre, roughly half of the downtown, were destroyed. There were very few surviving casualties as most people caught in the disaster were vaporized instantly. Only 9 people have been identified to date.

If you haven't seen any video footage yet and you wanted to imagine what hell must look like, here you go:

 

[artsci]

The stuff is death, for all of its victims and for the planet. The corporations making and selling the stuff are merchants of death.

 

[elecblue]

I couldn't agree more. That's why I don't buy the stuff.