(Montreal) Several wagons of a freight train derailed and caught fire early Saturday in a rural area of Maine, not far from the Canada-US border. Three employees were injured, but their lives are not believed to be in danger.
Three locomotives and six wagons carrying lumber and electrical cables ran off the track around 8:30 a.m. in Sandwich Academy Grant Township, Somerset County, according to a statement from the Maine Forest Service.
This sector is located about fifty kilometers from Quebec. This is the Canadian Pacific (CP) railway line which notably crosses Farnham and Lac-Mégantic, then goes to Saint-Jean, New Brunswick.
The derailment occurred in a wooded area and started a small forest fire, which emergency services have brought under control and are monitoring, the service said. The three railway employees were taken to hospital.
Preliminary assessment indicates that a buildup of melting ice and debris that washed away part of the track is a possible cause of the crash, the service added.
Some hazardous materials were on board the train, but officials on site deemed there was no risk of a leak or fire.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Director of Communications C. Doniele Carlson also confirmed the derailment about 24 kilometers east of Jackman and said dangerous elements of the train’s cargo were not involved. in the fire.
“Our emergency response teams and hazardous materials experts responded and continue to conduct a full assessment of the situation,” Carlson said in a statement. There is no evacuation and public safety is not threatened. »
The nearby Municipality of Rockwood Fire and Rescue Department posted a photo of the derailment on its Facebook page and advised against approaching the area. The image shows several derailed cars and a small fire, with black smoke billowing over the snowy forest.
The merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern was announced on Friday. The CPKC railway company presents itself as the first rail network linking Canada, the United States and Mexico.
This derailment is the latest to hit the rail industry. In the United States, federal regulators and members of Congress are urging rail companies to do more to prevent derailments after recent accidents involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota led to evacuations.
In Quebec, a derailment on the same railway line, then owned by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic (MMA), caused the Lac-Mégantic disaster, which killed 47 people, 10 years ago.
The American municipality of Rockwood, located approximately 140 kilometers northwest of Bangor, is a village in Somerset County with approximately 300 residents. Located on the western shore of Moosehead Lake, one of the largest freshwater bodies in the state, it is a salmon and trout fishing destination on both the lake and the Moose River.
With information from Michael Casey, Associated Press, Boston