33 bodies recovered from Canadian train explosion

(UPI)

The recovery of five more bodies Saturday brought the death toll in the Lac-Megantic, Quebec, train disaster to 33 with 17 people still missing, police said.

Investigators had identified nine of the 33, but had released the name of just one, Eliane Parenteau-Boulanger, 93, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail reported. Those missing are presumed dead.

Regional police Inspector Michel Forget said the investigation into the July 6 disaster in which 73 rail tanker cars derailed, exploded and burned would take at least several more weeks, the newspaper said.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported emergency crews were still being hampered by heat and fumes as they searched the red zone, the area most affected by the disaster, for more victims.

Lac-Megantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said Saturday that city residents still displaced by the disaster will be relocated from the local high school where they had been sheltered.

“They will be relocated to better places. Places with real beds,” Roy-Laroche said.