Train conductor Thomas Harding played a significant role in the deaths of 47 people in the Lac-Megantic tragedy because he didn't sufficiently apply the brakes after parking the oil-laden convoy, the Crown argued on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.
Lawyers representing the three men charged with criminal negligence in the Lac-Megantic rail disaster that killed 47 people announced in court on Tuesday that they won't call any witnesses.
Lawyers began the difficult task Monday of finding 14 jurors who are bilingual, impartial and without any personal connection to the 2013 rail disaster that killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que.
The population of Lac-Mégantic and its neighbouring towns are heavily divided on what to do with the railway that runs through the heart of the town, Quebec's environmental review agency says.
The conductor as well as the owner of the train that derailed, exploded and killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic in 2013 have been added as respondents in a class action lawsuit.
Since 2013, at least 21 oil train accidents have spilled an estimated 7.1 million litres of crude on American soil. To many communities in the blast zone, they're known as "bomb trains."
Wildfires that levelled neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray slowed their rampage through tinder dry forest in northern Alberta on Sunday, allowing firefighters in the oilpatch city to focus on hotspots.