The quiet town of Lec-Megantic, Quebec, Canada was rocked with a massive catastrophe as an oil train was derailed from its tracks and the tanker cars exploded.

After the accident was declared under control, authorities were able to inspect at the blast site to look for more bodies. After two days, about 13 people have been declared dead and at least 50 were missing. However, it is said that the death toll would increase in the coming days as police discover more bodies from the site.

When the fire that ensued after the derailment was contained, Sgt. Benoit Richard from the Quebec provincial police said that their team was able to find eight more bodies after the initially reported five deceased individuals. But with missing people still unaccounted for, families are bracing themselves for the worst.

Meanwhile, Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Donald Ross confirmed that the exploding train was carrying DOT-111 cars which can easily be holed up during accidents. Though it is a staple fleet for an American freight rail, a study in 1991 reveals the safety issues regarding them. Among these issues is its thin steel sheet that can spill whatever is inside it.

Likewise, Mr Ross added that it is not certain whether a different train could prevent the catastrophic event. What they are certain of is that the train was moving at a fast pace of 63 miles per hour for a seven-mile stretch before the derailment. It was also reported that 72 of 73 tanker cars contained oil and at least five of them exploded. Also, investigators are not ruling out the possibility of tampering.

Mr Ross and the investigating panel have recovered the blackbox of the train which can provide more answers regarding the accident. Among these concerns are the blaze that ignited on the same train hours before the shocking event. Likewise, they are not ruling out the possibility of a brake malfunction.

Aside from the deceased, the blast also destroyed around 30 buildings and forced around 6000 residents to evacuate. With a tragedy as massive as these, more criticism will be raised over the safety of moving oil via train. Likewise, this will add fire to the argument of building a pipeline from the United States to Canada to avert such incident from happening again.

Meanwhile, Canada's Transport Minister Denis Lebel said that the oil tanker train was inspected in Montreal the day before the accident and no issues were observed. Furthermore, he claims that transferring goods via train is still a safe mode of transport. However, the recent accident has impending environmental concerns for the 100,000 liters of spilled crude oil can make its way to the St. Lawrence River and reach Quebec City. Thus, Quebec Environment Ministry Spokesperson Eric Cardinal hopes that they can contain up to 85 per cent of the spill.

The Lec-Megantic incident is the fourth freight train accident involving oil tankers in Canada this year. This latest blunder can increase the sentiments for the proposed Keyston XL pipeline that should be built from the United States Gulf Coast to Canada. The derailed train was carrying oil from the Bakken region in North Dakota to a refinery in the Canadian East Coast. The oil it contains is just part of the 140,000 carloads of crude oil that will be brought from the U.S. to Canada this year. With reports from AP