Feds commit $60M to Lac-Megantic
LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. — The federal government has kicked in $60 million in aid for the town devastated by a deadly rail disaster, matching the amount pledged by the province.
Conservative MP for Megantic-L’Erable and International Development Minister Christian Paradis announced the funding commitment to the rebuilding effort Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, black boxes from the locomotive at the centre of Canada’s deadliest railway explosion were sent to the United States for analysis, provincial police said Monday.
Insp. Michel Forget told a news conference that the devices were brought back to Canada on the weekend as a criminal investigation continues into the LacMegantic disaster.
The runaway crude-oil train derailed and exploded July 6, killing 47 people and devastating the lakeside town of 6,000 people. Officials had recovered 42 bodies as of Monday, though the corpses were badly burned and just 28 had been identified.
Forget said the search for bodies will continue under the crumpled crude-oil cars at the centre of town.
“We’re still optimistic about finding victims inside the debris,” he told reporters. “Police are motivated by a very strong desire to find them.”
He said a number of oil cars have been removed from the scene, but others were buried in the ground and are proving difficult to dislodge.
More than 200 people in LacMegantic who were chased from their homes will be allowed to return this week — but not to stay. Officials will only let the victims retrieve belongings from the disaster zone that’s still a crime scene and continues to present health hazards.