The first victim of the oil train blast which wiped out the centre of a small Canadian town has been identified – as the official death toll hit 24.
Eliane Parenteau, 94, was identified by the coroners office. She lived in the area flattened when at least five of the 72 tankers containing crude oil detonated following the train’s derailment in the middle of Lac-Megantic.
Police said this morning that a further four bodies had been found, although the final death toll is expected to be much higher. Rescue efforts had been delayed as emergency crews put out the burning wreckage of the train and tried to keep the remaining tankers cool.
The news came as Quebec premier Pauline Marois criticised the chief executive of the company which owned the runaway train for taking so long to visit the disaster area.
Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of Rail World, was jeered by residents as he arrived at Lac-Megantic last night under police escort. he said he had delayed visiting the town to co-ordinate the crisis from his Chicago office.
“I understand the extreme anger,” he said. “We owe an abject apology to the people in this town.”
Investigators are looking at a fire on the same train just hours before the disaster.
A fire official has said the train’s power was shut down as standard operating procedure, meaning the train’s air brakes would have been disabled. In that case, hand brakes on individual train cars would have been needed.
Mr Burkhard blamed the train’s engineer for failing to set the brakes properly before the unmanned train hurtled down a seven-mile incline, derailed and ignited. He said the engineer had been suspended without pay and was under “police control”.
But his visit did little to appease anger at the railway officials among residents of the town.
Lac-Megantic’s mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche, said a hoped-for meeting with Mr Burkhardt did not materialise.
“I am angry with the fact that he did not communicate with me sooner,” she said.