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| Canada runaway train: Lac-Megantic death toll rises | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Another two bodies have been found after a runaway train carrying crude oil exploded in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, police say. | Another two bodies have been found after a runaway train carrying crude oil exploded in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, police say. |
| The death toll from Saturday's pre-dawn explosion now stands at three, and there are fears it may rise further. | The death toll from Saturday's pre-dawn explosion now stands at three, and there are fears it may rise further. |
| The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 people. | |
| Dozens of buildings were destroyed in the town, about 250km (155 miles) east of Montreal. | Dozens of buildings were destroyed in the town, about 250km (155 miles) east of Montreal. |
| Police are trying to account for dozens of missing people. | Police are trying to account for dozens of missing people. |
| "People have been reported missing or disappeared but... we are not going to issue a figure," police spokesman Michel Brunet told reporters. | |
| "We know there are going to be more deaths." | |
| Local media have reported up to 100 people missing, but police are checking whether people reported missing were simply away on holiday. | |
| 'It's a mess' | |
| Two of five cars that exploded are still ablaze nearly 36 hours later, Lac-Megantic Fire Chief Denis Lauzon told reporters on Sunday morning. | |
| Firefighters have been battling the flames with water and a fire retardant, but are staying at least 1,000 ft from the burning tankers for fear of more blasts, he added. | |
| About 30 buildings - including some of the town's most historic structures - were obliterated by the blast. | |
| "We lost the biblioteque which had all the memories of people here - it's a mess," said Chief Lauzon. | |
| The train's 73 cars carrying pressurised containers of crude oil reportedly uncoupled from an engine parked outside the town around 01:00 (06:00 BST) on Saturday, gathering speed as they rolled down the tracks before derailing in Lac Megantic. | |
| Eyewitnesses said that by the time the cars reached the town they were travelling at considerable speed and that bars in the town centre were crowded at the time. | |
| The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train had five locomotive engines and 73 cars filled with light crude oil, and was parked in the village of Nantes - about 7km (four miles) from Lac-Megantic - during an overnight driver shift-change, said a company spokesman. | |
| An engineer had parked the train and put the brakes on "properly" before going to a local hotel for the night, said the spokesman, Joe McGonigle. | |
| The cars filled with fuel somehow became uncoupled, causing them to roll downhill into the town and derail, he added. | |
| A one-kilometre exclusion zone was set up amid fears of more pressurised containers exploding. | |
| The train was carrying the crude oil from the Bakken Field in North Dakota. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic owns more than 800km (500 miles) of track serving Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick. | |
| A lakeside town that is home to some 6,000 people, Lac-Megantic is close to the US border with Vermont and 210 km (130 miles) north of Maine's capital, Augusta. |