Police order evacuations after train explodes and catches fire in Quebec town
- 11 years ago
About 1,000 people evacuated their homes and police set up a 1/2 mile security zone... after a runaway train caught fire in the Canadian lakeside town of Lac-Megantic... sending a fireball hundreds of feet into the air.
Police say they have not been able to get close enough to determine the number of victims from the still burning fires. Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway says there have been a number of fatalities and injuries.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS SAYING:
"There was a raucous, it leaped, there were big balls of fire above the cafe. We jumped over the railing, we crossed the street and just in the time it took to cross the street, the street was filled with fire, it was a river of fire."
The driverless freight train carrying tankers of petroleum derailed at high speed at about 1 o'clock Saturday morning.
Witnesses said the town center was crowded.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS SAYING:
"You could see the trai
Police say they have not been able to get close enough to determine the number of victims from the still burning fires. Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway says there have been a number of fatalities and injuries.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS SAYING:
"There was a raucous, it leaped, there were big balls of fire above the cafe. We jumped over the railing, we crossed the street and just in the time it took to cross the street, the street was filled with fire, it was a river of fire."
The driverless freight train carrying tankers of petroleum derailed at high speed at about 1 o'clock Saturday morning.
Witnesses said the town center was crowded.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS SAYING:
"You could see the trai