Devastated Quebecois launch class action lawsuit against railway
Two residents of the Quebec town that was devastated by the derailment of 72 oil tanker cars that killed 50 people are to launch class action lawsuit against the operator in a bid to be compensated for the loss of loved ones and destroyed property.
Guy Ouellet and Yannick Gagné, the plaintiffs in the new suit,
are seeking compensations for the disaster which destroyed much
of the center of the lakeside town’s, killing 50, including
Ouellet’s partner, Diane Bizier, reports Reuters.
The accident also destroyed a swath of property in Lac-Megantic,
such as Gagné's popular town bar, the Musi-Cafe, which was
reduced to rubble by the blast of the train and the subsequent
fire. Musi-Cafe is reported to have been filled with patrons at
the time of the incident, most of whom are thought to be dead.
Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway’s chairman, Edward
Burkhardt, has apologized to the town of some 6,000 and
acknowledged the company’s liability. Burkhardt announced last
week that the engineer responsible for parking the train on an
uphill grade at a nearby town failed to use sufficient hand
brakes.
Thirty-seven bodies have been recovered so far from the ruins of
Lac-Megantic, which lies near the border with the US state of
Maine. Thirteen residents are still missing and presumed dead.
Lac-Megantic lawyer Daniel Larochelle, whose own office was
destroyed in the explosion, filed the first motion for a class
action lawsuit on Monday morning.
"The suffering endured by this
community and the suffering that is still ongoing has been truly
incomprehensible," Larochelle said in a statement.
Emergency crews have been searching the disaster site daily from
early in the morning to sunset, working in 15 minute shifts due
to temperatures in the area currently running higher than 86 F,
compounded by heavy equipment and masks, reports the CBC.
Authorities have been slowly sifting through rubble for the 13
bodies that have yet to be found.
The local coroner's office says it has identified 11 victims of
the recovered 37 bodies as of Monday evening.
Two buildings were demolished on Sunday after they were said to
be unstable and a threat to crews working in the area. The center
of Lac-Megantic remains closed to residents.
The suit, to be filed in the district of Saint-Francois in
southeastern Quebec, will seek compensation for those residents
who lost loved ones or were injured during the explosions, as
well as property claims and business losses.
Both Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway’s chairman, Edward
Burkhardt as well as its president Robert Grindrod are named in
the initial suit document, along with other company executives
and the train’s engineer, Thomas Harding.
According to the CBC Quebec’s government has already promised a
$60-million plan to help the residents of Lac-Mégantic manage and
rebuild, including 1,500 checks for emergency assistance to
families who had to be evacuated from the center of town.
The train derailment at Lac-Mégantic is now considered one of the
worst railway disasters since the St-Hilaire train disaster in
1864 and one of the worst in Canada’s history. Over 30 buildings
are thought to have been destroyed at the town’s core, including
its library and historical archives.