40 still missing in deadly Canada oil train crash

A Quebec town devastated when a runaway oil tanker train exploded killing at least five people braced for a rising death toll today as fire crews tried to reach the hardest hit areas where about 40 people were believed to be missing.
All but one of the train's 73 tanker cars were carrying oil when they somehow came loose early Saturday morning, sped downhill nearly 11 kilometres into the town of Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border, and derailed, with at least five of the cars exploding.
Firefighters today were focusing their efforts on two oil-filled cars dousing them with water and foam in an attempt to keep them from overheating and exploding.

Quebec provincial police Sgt Benoit Richard said this morning there was no searching overnight because the situation remained too dangerous.
He said only a small part of the devastated scene has been searched as firefighters made sure all flames were out.
Many of those missing were believed to have been drinking at a popular downtown drinking establishment when the explosions occurred and rescuers were still not able to reach the bar, Richard said.

"Hopefully we'll be able to open up more areas for searching during the day," he said.
About a third of the community of 6,000 was forced from of their homes by the explosion and flames.

The growing number of trains transporting crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major disaster, and this derailment was sure to add to the debate over a proposed oil pipeline running across the US that Canada says it badly needs.
"This is an unbelievable disaster," said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who toured the town Sunday and compared it to a war zone.
"This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn't a family that is not affected by this.