MMA railway, 3 workers face criminal charges
The Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway and three of its employees are facing criminal charges for the train derailment that killed 47 people in a small Quebec town last year.
The Canadian Press reported that Canada’s prosecutors office has charged Thomas Harding, Jean Demaitre, Richard Labrie and the bankrupt rail company with 47 counts of criminal negligence. The three men were arrested on Monday and will appear in court today.
According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the charges were made after analyzing evidence collected at the scene of the train’s derailment and explosion in Lac-Mégantic, which destroyed a majority of the town’s downtown area, in addition to the lost lives.
Harding was the driver of the train, Labrie was the railway traffic controller and Demaitre was the manager of train operations at the time of the incident, Rene Verret, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, told The Canadian Press.
The sale of MMA’s American assets is expected to close by May 15. The Maine-based railway will be sold to a subsidiary of the New York-based Fortress Investment Group, which will operate the rails under the name Central Maine and Quebec Railway. The company will purchase MMA’s Canadian railway once the sale receives the necessary regulatory approvals.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments