Police in Canada have opened a criminal investigation into the runaway oil train derailment which has killed at least 15 people in a small Quebec town.
Investigators said they had ‘discovered elements’ which have started a criminal probe. Quebec police Inspector Michel Forget said officers were likely to explore the possibility of criminal negligence.
Two more bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of the centre of Lac-Megantic, which was flattened after at least five tankers full of crude oil exploded following the derailment.
The explosions destroyed about 30 buildings, including the Musi-Cafe, a popular bar that was filled at the time, and forced about a third of the town’s 6,000 residents from their homes.
Although 15 bodies have been recovered, rescuers have warned the death toll could reach as high as 60.
Investigators zeroed in on whether a fire on the train a few hours before the disaster set off a deadly chain of events that has raised questions about the safety of transporting oil in North America by rail instead of pipeline.
The same train caught fire hours earlier in a nearby town, and the engine was shut down – standard operating procedure dictated by the train’s owners, Nantes Fire Chief Patrick Lambert said.
Edward Burkhardt, president of the railway’s US-based parent company, Rail World, suggested that shutting off the locomotive to put out the fire might have disabled the brakes.
“An hour or so after the locomotive was shut down, the train rolled away,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Efforts continued yesterday to stop waves of crude oil spilled in the disaster from reaching the St. Lawrence River, the backbone of the province’s water supply. Environment Minister Yves-Francois Blanchet said the chances were “very slim”.