CN Rail is working to clean up an oil leak after nearly 40 train cars carrying crude oil derailed near a village in western Manitoba early Saturday morning.
CN crews are responding to the derailment, which occurred at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning near St. Lazare, about 300 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, a spokesperson from the railway said.
“You can smell crude in the air. That’s really concerning,” said rancher Jayme Corr. The derailment happened on his property, about 10 kilometres south of St. Lazare, in the rural municipality of Ellice-Archie.
“There’s oil leaking, and where they’re sitting is [near] a water lagoon,” he said.
The derailment happened around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. (Eyan Corr)
Emergency personnel woke Corr up around 5 a.m. Saturday to alert him to the derailment, which happened just under two kilometres from his home.
No injuries or fires reported
Initial reports are that approximately 37 crude oil cars have derailed and that there is a partial leak of crude oil, Jonathan Abecassis, a media relations director for CN, wrote in an email to CBC.
“A perimeter has been set up around the area to facilitate site access. There are no reports of injuries or fires,” he wrote.
“CN crews will be conducting a full site assessment to determine how much product has spilled and exactly how many cars are involved. First responders are on location.”
CN’s environmental team has started cleaning up the area.
Corr said his cattle have since been moved away from the area, but he’s concerned that his main water source for the summertime will now be contaminated.
The rancher says he thinks a derailment like Saturday’s has been a long time coming.
“It seems to be the trains go faster, they’re longer, heavier, and the maintenance is getting less and less,” Corr said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has sent investigators to the site of the derailment.
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