Playing with fire

摘要

A runaway train carrying crude oil .derailed and exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic in the early hours of July 6th, creating a fireball that flattened dozens of buildings and left 50 people missing or dead. The centre of the small tourist town, which lies just west of Maine, looked like "a war zone", said Stephen Harper, the prime minister. The 72-car train, bound for a refinery in New Brunswick, had been parked a few miles west of the town and left unattended when its engineer retired for the night. Rail World, the Chicago-based owner of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, initially blamed firefighters for releasing the air brakes when tackling an earlier blaze, but later said an employee had failed to set the handbrakes. Police have started a criminal investigation, but have ruled out terrorism.