Officials with the agency did not say how fast the train was going.
The board's lead investigator, Donald Ross, told a news conference this morning the train started to roll after firefighters and an employee of the rail company that owns the train had left the premises.
It is still unclear who the last person on the scene was.
The rail company, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, and fire officials in the nearby town of Nantes are pointing the finger at each other as investigators search for causes in the tragedy.
The fire chief in Nantes has offered an assessment different from the railway's about who might have been to blame in the hours leading up to the tragedy.
Edward Burkhardt, the head of the rail company at the centre of last Saturday‘s disaster, is to visit Lac-Megantic later Tuesday and will likely face tough questions and a fair degree of anger from residents.
The community about 250 kilometres east of Montreal was ravaged after the unattended train rolled in and exploded into balls of fire, killing at least 13 people and leaving nearly 40 more missing.
The town's mayor told a news conference Tuesday that about 1,200 residents are being allowed home.
The first bodies found on the weekend are being examined in Montreal to determine their identity.
The coroner's office is asking the relatives of people missing to provide DNA to help identify victims.
Original Article
Source: winnipegfreepress.com
Author: The Canadian Press
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