Posted on 07/06/2013 5:43:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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One person has died and several people are reported to be missing after a train, believed to be carrying crude oil, derailed and sparked several explosion in the middle of a small town in the Canadian province of Quebec. At least 30 buildings are believed to have been destroyed in the blast in Lac-Megantic on Saturday, and up to 1,000 people have been evacuated from the area. The incident occurred shortly after 5 GMT when a freight train derailed in Lac-Megantic, a lakeside town of about 6,000 people near the border with Maine. Although police said they could not yet get close enough to determine whether there were any casualties from the still-burning fires, an aerial photograph showed widespread devastation in the town centre. Police Sergeant Gregory Gomez del Prado, speaking from Montreal, told Al Jazeera that the authorities are on the scene trying to contain the fire but have not yet been able to extinguish it. "We do believe we have fatalities, and we are basically trying to get information from all the witnesses and also locate the missing people" he said. He added that the provincial police were also concerned of the impact of the oil on the environment. Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak, reporting from Lac-Megantic, said the explosion had taken place in an area including popular restaurants and cafes. Our correspondent said that the train's crew had tied down for a crew change 11km down the track several hours before the train, without a driver, rolled in to town and derailed. Pressurised tanks An eyewitness told a local broadcaster the town centre had been crowded at the time of the derailment. Radio-Canada reported one building at the centre of the town was a bar popular with young people. "Many parents are worried because they haven't been able to communicate with a member of their family or an acquaintance," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told the local channel. "We can't give out any information on what's happening right now because the firemen haven't been able to get close." The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said four pressurised tank cars blew up after the train, which had 73 cars in all, came off the rails. Residents told reporters they had heard five or six large blasts. Fire officials said they feared more of the tanker cars were at risk of exploding. About 30 buildings in the town centre were destroyed, some by the initial blast and others by the subsequent fire, they said. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an initial statement via Twitter: "Thoughts & prayers are with those impacted in Lac Megantic. Horrible news." Lac-Megantic is part of Quebec's Eastern Townships region, an area popular with tourists that is close to the order with Maine and Vermont. Quebec is a predominantly French-speaking province in the eastern half of Canada. Our correspondent said that some residents and police have said that the oil may be spilling into the acqueducts and the river. |
Does anyone find it interesting that the source is Aljazeera?
in the news today, I see quite a few terrorist attacks
of course, none are be portrayed that way
Valid
True, too.
If they explode like that, they aren’t filled with crude oil, they’re filled with LNG...
Much of the oil from the Bakken/Three Forks formations travels by rail because there isn't enough pipeline capacity, and some of that travels East to refineries. The effect has been the lowering of the price split between Brent and WTI, and a better market for US crude oil.
Pushing more oil through Cushing, OK likely will not have as good an effect on oil markets or feedstock prices.
I'm not sure where the oil on the train came from, but you can bet your bottom dollar the incident will be used to add restrictions on transport, even though it sounds like the wreck was from operator error (or lack of an operator). (The Obamites will seize any opportunity, anything to hurt the conventional energy industry, let no crisis go to waste).
In the meantime, may Our Almighty Father help all concerned who have suffered as a result of the wreck.
Yes, and that a "tied down" train went wandering into a popular district, derailed, and "pressurized" cars blew up (while that can happen, those cars are pretty stout).
Yep. And those have to get pretty hot or suffer some severe damage to rupture--they have venting in the event internal pressures get too high.
While valves can be torn off in a wreck, to have several cars explode seems a tad unusual.
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