Police: 50 ‘probably’ dead or missing in Canada train mishap

The number of dead or missing as a result of a runaway oil tanker train in Lac-Megantic, Canada has risen to 50, police announced on Wednesday, July 10. Quebec provincial pollice inspector Michel Forget told a press conference that the number of confirmed dead stood at 20, with 30 still unaccounted for. The train crash is said to be the worst in recent Canadian history. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic (MMA) chairman Edward Burkhardt said firefighters had unwittingly unlocked the train’s brakes when they doused a small fire and shut down the train’s engines. But Forget said the crash was likely the result of an engineer’s failure to set the brakes. The freight train tore through homes and businesses, as it rolled downhill without a conductor towards Lac-Megantic.

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