Death toll hits 13 amid revelations Quebec firemen may have cut power to runaway train's brakes

Updated

Local firefighters may have cut the brakes on a freight train which killed at least 13 people when it derailed and exploded in a small Canadian town, investigators say.

The oil-laden train blew up after it jumped its track in the small town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in the early hours of Saturday morning (local time).

Recovery teams combing the wreckage of the town have so far found 13 bodies, while police say 37 people are still missing.

Key points Before it derailed, fire crews were called to a blaze in the train's motor

They switched off the engine as they extinguished the fire

The rail line's chief says the engine was needed to maintain pressure in the air brakes

He says as the pressure was lost, the brakes failed

Fire crews say they alerted the rail line to their actions

13 people have been confirmed dead after the accident, and 37 remain missing

It has now been confirmed that earlier on the night of the deadly blast, firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze in the train's motor.

The train had been stopped at the neighbouring town of Nantes at the time.

Nantes fire chief Patrick Lambert told Reuters the crew switched off the engine as they extinguished a "good-sized" fire in the engine, probably caused by a fuel or oil line break in the engine.

Fire officials say they were following protocols.

But Ed Burkhardt, the chairman of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, says the engine had been left on by the train's engineer to maintain pressure in the air brakes.

He says as the pressure gradually "leaked off", the air brakes failed and the train began to slide downhill.

The train derailed 12 kilometres away in Lac-Megantic.

Mr Lambert says fire crews told a company dispatcher what they did at the time, but says there was no discussion of the brakes.

"We were there for the train fire. As for the inspection of the train after the fact, that was up to them," he said.

It is not immediately clear what the dispatcher did after speaking with the fire service.

Mr Burkhardt says the fire service should have also tried to contact the train's operator, who was staying at a nearby hotel.

"If the engine was shut off, someone should have made a report to the local railroad about that," he said.

Andre Gendron, who lives next to the rail yard in Nantes, saw the train move down the track without its lights on.

Map: Lac-Megantic, Canada

"About five minutes after the firemen left, I felt the vibration of a train moving down the track. I then saw the train move by without its lights on," he told Reuters.

"I found it strange its lights weren't on and thought it was an electrical problem on board.

"It wasn't long after that I heard the explosion. I could see the light from the fires in Lac-Megantic."

The spectacular crash saw flames shoot into the sky and burn into the night, levelling whole blocks in the centre of the town and destroying at least 30 buildings.

Environmental officials have warned that 100,000 litres of oil spilled in the disaster is headed for the Saint Lawrence river.

The centre of Lac-Megantic, a lakeside town of 6,000 near the border with Maine, remains cordoned off.

Police say they have been unable to examine much of the town because the area was still too dangerous.

Dozens of rail tanker wagons, some of them destroyed, are sprawled around the accident site.

Canadian crash investigators say they will look at the two sets of brakes on the train, the airbrakes and the handbrakes, as they probe what could turn out to be Canada's deadliest rail accident since 1956.

ABC/Reuters

Topics: rail, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, canada

First posted