Police say five more bodies have been found in Lac-Mégantic, bringing the toll up to 20 confirmed dead, after a train derailment that set of a series of explosions in the centre of the Quebec town.
The number of people unaccounted for, which includes the recovered bodies, stands at about 50.
Police said one of the bodies has been identified and the family has been notified. That person's name has not yet been released to the public.
Unofficial lists of people unaccounted for have been published on social media, but no official list has been released.

Train engineer suspended without pay

The engineer in charge of the train that derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic is "under police control," according to the head of the rail company.
At an impromptu news conference on Wednesday, Ed Burkhardt, the president of Rail World Inc., remained unflappable as he addressed a flurry of reporters who crowded around him.

ZOOM INAerial photos of Lac-Mégantic train explosion site

Rail World Inc. is the parent company of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA), which owns the train that derailed and set off a series of fatal explosions at 1 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Burkhardt said the engineer has been suspended without pay in the wake of the police investigation. He said he believes police have discussed prosecuting the engineer.
"I don't think he'll be back working with us," he told reporters shortly after he arrived in the town this afternoon.
“It was our employee that was responsible for setting the brakes on the train … That employee is under investigation and is not working.”
The train was parked by the engineer late Friday night, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada which is investigating the incident.
The engineer then left the train and went to sleep at a nearby hotel. A short time later, a fire was reported on the train and another railway employee was brought in, according to the TSB. After firefighters and the rail worker had left the scene, the train started to roll downhill, derailed and exploded in the centre of Lac-Mégantic.
Burkhardt said the company had originally trusted their employee when he told them he had applied all 11 hand brakes. However, he said he now has his doubts about the engineer's story.
“We think that he applied some handbrakes, the problem is that he didn’t apply enough of them,” he said.

1-person train crews safer, says railway head

Burkhardt's failure to visit the community since Saturday's disaster has stirred angry reactions among many Lac-Mégantic residents.
The head of the rail company arrived in the town on Wednesday for the first time, and was met by a crush of reporters and jeers and insults launched by residents. He said he has received threats every day since the fatal derailment.
'We had quite a reasonable safety record until ... we blew it.'—Ed Burkhardt,president of Rail World Inc
While he was quick to assign blame to the train engineer, Burkhardt also defended his company's safety record.
He said his company is "not accepting responsibility" while facts are still being gathered. He defended its past safety record and said the company follows industry practice.
"I think we had quite a reasonable safety record until the other day when we blew it all," he said.
Some have questioned whether the one-person crew could have played a role in the derailment, but Burkhardt went so far as to suggest that having fewer employees on board can be safer.
“We think the one-man crews are safer than two-men crews because there’s less exposure for employee injuries, less distraction," he said.
Transport Canada officials said on Tuesday that one-person train crews are not against regulations, as long as they meet certain safety standards.

Flags lowered in Quebec

Flags in Quebec's public buildings as well as flags on Canada's Peace Tower will be lowered to half-mast for a week as Quebecers honour those who died and those who are still unaccounted for in the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster.
"The entire province of Quebec is in mourning since this accident," Quebec premier Pauline Marois said on Monday.
"In due course, business and the necessary authorities will have to be held accountable," Marois told a news conference this morning in Quebec City, where her government announced $60 million in emergency aid for the community.
"Never should such an event have occurred. There are too many questions to be asked. Answers will have to be forthcoming."
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At least 30 buildings were levelled by blasts in the town's core. The province has offered the town funds to cover the loss in property tax from those businesses and more assistance to business owners to help with relocation and paying employees.
The federal government reiterated its support on Wednesday, saying it would “act swiftly and efficiently to ensure help is delivered” once it received an evaluation of the services needed from the province.

Provincial relief funds breakdown:

  • $8 million for urgent assistance to citizens. Families who were forced to leave their homes are eligible for $1,000. Also included in that fund is up to $200,000 per family for damage to or loss of property.
  • $7 million for immediate assistance to the municipality to reimburse for loss of property taxes from damaged businesses.
  • $10 million emergency aid for affected businesses
  • Another $25 million will be made available next week to plan and rebuild the city's downtown core.
  • Another $10 million designated to help restart the regional economy
  • Costs of emergency response will be 100 per cent reimbursed by the province.

Investigation continues

Investigators sifted through the charred remains of Lac-Mégantic's historic downtown early Wednesday morning, as they searched for clues into what could turn out to be North America's worst railway disaster since 1989.
Police said they are investigating whether Saturday's derailment and subsequent explosion — which levelled the centre of the lakeside Quebec town — involved foul play or criminal negligence.
"We are conducting a criminal investigation. We are not neglecting anything so far," Insp. Michel Forget told reporters on Tuesday. This morning, he said officers worked through the night looking for evidence and remains.

Officials on the scene

  • More than 200 Quebec provincial police in Lac-Mégantic.
  • More than 25 investigators and 19 technicians.
  • Investigators have met with over 70 witnesses so far.
Source: Sûreté du Québec
In Quebec, it's the Crown's office that lays criminal charges, not the police. Forget said investigators will turn over all the information they gather to the Crown, who will then make a decision on whether or not charges will be filed.
The Transportation Safety Board said it was looking into whether the train's operator — Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) — followed proper safety procedures in the hours before the unmanned 72-car train carrying crude oil rolled down a hill and slammed into town.
The incident forced some 2,000 people, or roughly a third of the town's population, to leave their homes and seek shelter in local schools or with friends and family. Most of those people were able to return home on Tuesday.
With parts of the town still considered dangerous — and part of it still a crime scene — emergency officials could not say when the remainder of the evacuees, about 800 people, would be permitted home.

Rail company has long history of accidents

MMA executives have said they believe the train's air brakes failed while it was parked in the neighbouring town of Nantes, after firemen shut down the engine to put out a fire that erupted on Friday night.
But it remains unclear whether the train's engineer had set enough hand brakes — which are meant to hold a train in place even if the air brakes fail — before he left the train for a shift change shortly before the fire broke out.
MMA, which is headquartered in Chicago, has a long history of accidents in Canada, according to Transportation Safety Board data, which shows 129 accidents, including 77 derailments — some of them minor — since 2003.
A TSB official said she could not immediately say how that compared to other rail operators in the country.