Some of you will recall that some four years ago, there was a terrible rail disaster in Lac Megantic, Quebec. A train of fuel cars, stocked with raw crude, got loose after a fire affected its brakes, rolled down a long incline for several miles, and crashed into the centre of the small town of Lac Megantic in Quebec. Close to 50 people were killed in the resulting explosions and fires, and the town centre was destroyed: Railroad fuel cars explode in small Quebec town
The Quebec Public Prosecutions service charged three of the people connected with the train and rail line with a number of charges, including numerous counts of criminal homicide causing death.
Earlier this week, the jury advised that they were deadlocked. The judge exhorted them to keep at it and try to reach a verdict.
Today, they reported their verdict: not guilty on all counts. One of the accused still faces some charges under the railway regulations, which are much less serious:
Lac-Megantic trial ends with three acquittals
Interestingly, residents of the town generally seem to support the verdict, and think that the president and other higher-ups in the railway corporation should have been the ones charged: ‘It broke their lives’: Lac-Mégantic residents support acquittals of MMA rail workers