Fires are still burning at the site where a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed early Monday while hauling oil, but they are under control, CP and public safety officials said on Tuesday.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said in a statement to Reuters the scene was contained, with about 100 responders focusing on suppressing the remaining fires in an affected area of about five to 10 acres.
CP said in a statement that 34 cars derailed west of Guernsey, Sask., spilling crude and causing a fire.
It is not yet clear how much oil was spilled.
“The last that I have on it is that things are under control… the fire is contained in an area, there’s no concern about other tanker cars catching fire at this point,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters in Ottawa.
CP said it re-opened the rail line on Tuesday morning once all track repairs and safety inspections were complete.
Garneau said Canada’s Transportation Safety Board was investigating the derailment. The site had been inspected by Transport Canada in August and by CP in the last few days, he said.
“It was fine. In fact a train passed going the other way a few hours before,” Garneau said. “So we don’t know what happened in that interim period and that’s what the Transportation Safety Board will investigate.”
(Reuters)
