The company responsible for a runaway train that exploded in a small Canadian town Saturday said an engine shutdown may have released air brakes holding the train in place.
At least five people are dead and around 40 are unaccounted for in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, after a 73-car train carrying crude oil derailed and crashed, local law enforcement officials said. Tankers exploded, sending thick plumes of smoke into the night sky, leveling dozens of homes and buildings and forcing nearly 2,000 people from their homes.
The train had stopped for a crew change Friday night in a station about seven miles from Lac-Megantic, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said in a statement. The train's engineer had "tied down" and checked into a motel.
"One fact that has emerged is the locomotive of the oil train parked at Nantes station was shut down subsequent to the departure of the engineer who had handled the train from Farnham, which may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place," the company said in a statement, noting that it still didn't have "complete information."
The explosion devastated the small lakeside town, where firefighters were still working Sunday to contain hot spots so law enforcement could expand its investigation. Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the locomotive event recorder and planned to analyze it for information on throttle position and speed, among other data.
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