Canada's Rail World CEO Edward Burkhardt has blamed a local engineer for a runaway train that derailed and exploded in a Quebec town, killing at least 15, saying he does not believe the last engineer's protestations, BBC News reported. Sixty people are known to be dead or missing after Saturday morning's crash. Also, 30 buildings were razed by the fireball from the explosion, news reports also said. Burkhardt said the engineer has been suspended without pay.
"I think [the engineer] did something wrong. It's hard to explain why someone didn't do something. We he think he applied some hand breaks, but the question is did he apply enough of them. He said he applied 11 hand brakes. We think that's not true. Initially we believed him but now we don't," Burhardt said.
200 officers continued to conduct searches on Wednesday morning related to the explosion. Two people had to be taken off the operation due to worries over their physical condition.
"This is a very risky environment," Quebec Pronvicial Police Sgt. Benoit Richard said.
Authorities have asked the relatives of those still missing to provide DNA samples by bringing in toothbrushes, razors and more items. The authorities have also warned some of the bodies may have been burnt to ashes in the explosion, BBC reported.
The train, which carried 72 cars of crude oil, was parked shortly before midnight on Friday in Nantes, as ocal firefighters were later called to put out a fire on the train. While they tackled the blaze, they also shut down a locomotive that had apparently been left running to keep the brakes engaged.
Burkhardt suggested on Tuesday evening that firefighters shared some blame "We don't have total responsibility, but we have partial responsibility," he told reporters in Montreal.
The train had been carrying oil from the Bakken oil region in North Dakota to a refinery on the east coast of Canada, news reports confirmed.
