5 more victims identified in Lac-Mgantic

Investigators have confirmed the identities of five more victims ofthe Lac-Mgantic, Que.,train disaster, bringing to 17 the number ofpeople whose remains have been identified.

Quebec provincial police Insp. Michel Forget said on Wednesday that crews have finished searching between 70 and 75 per cent of the disaster site.

As of Tuesday, 38 bodies had been recovered from the site, where a portion of a 72-car train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in the core of the town on July 6. Twelve people remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt visitedthe site of the train derailment and explosions in Lac- Mgantic, Que.,on Wednesday, a day afterseven mayors from Quebec's Eastern Townships demanded ameeting with her.

• Raitt promises to help Lac-Megantic with reconstruction

"If they ask me to come, I will come," Raitt said.

Shesaid she will meet with the Lac-Mgantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche, as well asthe regional prefect.

On Wednesday, Roy-Laroche said she was "impatiently" awaiting her meeting with the transport minister.

She said she hopes to discuss the possibility of moving the railway away from the town's centre.

Community rebuilds

Theprovincehas pledged$60 millionin immediate and short-term funds for those who were displaced or lost their homes and businesses in the disaster.

As of Wednesday, 1,450 cheques of $1,000from the provincial governmenthad been distibuted.

The Red Cross announced on Twitter that it hadraised over $5.6 million so far.

• Railway involved in Lac-Mgantic disaster lays off 19

As the town works to return to a sense of normalcy, Roy-Laroche reminded the public that there is more to the Lac-Mgantic regionthan its recent tragedy.

"You can visit Lac-Mgantic and see the [derailment zone] wall,but I invite you to also visit the entire region," she said.

Roy-Laroche invited summer tourists to enjoy the beaches, golf courses and Mont-Mgantic National Park.

Cleaning up the river

More than a week after the derailment, crude oil leaking from the explosions has pooled along the shoreline of the nearby Chaudire River.

Environmental teams will assess the extent of the spill, which could take yearsto clean up.

Crews have been working to prevent it from seeping into the water table and hurting local widlife and vegetation.

Rail infrastructure

The connection between the railway and infrastructure in Lac-Mgantic has become a hot topic since the explosion.

Elected officials from Sutton, Magog, Sherbrooke, Farnham, Lac-Mgantic, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Cowansville called for increased rail safety standards on Tuesday.

However, the officials were also careful to point out that railways will remain an important part of their economies in the future.

A group of dignitaries from Maine visited Lac-Mgantic on Wednesday to show their support for the community.

The train that derailed on Saturday was set to travel east through Maine.

"We all have a kind of responsiblity here," said Senator Tom Saviello for Franklin County, Maine.

Several of the Maine municipalities have plans to collaborate with the town of Lac-Mgantic as they deal with the interruption in railway traffican important resource for all of their local economies.

Disaster workers battle the heat

Disaster workers are taking 15-minute shifts inside Lac-Mgantic's red zone, battling heat and toxic conditions at the site of the train explosions.

Firefighters are working short bursts in the still-cordoned-off area where the blasts caused the greatest amount of damage.

"We're working in a no-man's land," said Denis Lauzon, Lac-Mgantic fire chief.

"We go slowly but surely and safety is a factor for everybody," Lauzon said.

Rising vapours coming from the oil-soaked ground are a concern for the crews. Lauzon said benzene, a toxic component of crude oil, poses a risk.

A HAZMAT team is testing levels, he said, ready to pull workers out of the area if high levels are detected.

Challenging task of removing tankers

Debris remains scattered across a large portion of the closed off area of Lac-Mgantic and crews are working to clear it with heavy machinery.

A team of experts brought in from the U.S. is removing the tanks, ensuring they're empty and then dismantling them for removal.

"It's all new for us," Lauzon said. "We're still working in no man's land the unknown of which cars [are] filled with gas and if the structure is still good to be able to move them. So we go slowly, but surely, and safety is a factor for everybody."

The zone has been declared a crime scene, and police are working in an area that has been deemed environmentally safe, he said.

• TIMELINE: Lac-Mgantic rail disaster

Cooling off areas with ventilating mist are available for workers in the zone to rest.

Sret du Qubec Lt. Daniel Campagna, who is responsible for the provincial police in the region that includes Lac-Mgantic, thanked the American and Quebec emergency workers who came to the region to help.

"For years now, we've had very close ties with various agencies including Maine emergency services," he said. "I would like to publicly thank them for their effort and for their contribution."

He also thanked the spouses of the workers and all the emergency personnel who cancelled their vacations to help.

He said the situation is particularly trying for emergency workers from the region.

"In this area, everybody knows everybody and the police officers know the people," he said. "It's not easy for you to enter that red zone. Definitely not easy because we still remember what it was like before this happened."

"I am from here. My career has been here. . . It has been very hard for me to pass that scene. It's also hard for me to see schools filled with police officers."

A high heat and humidity warning remains in place in all of southwestern Quebec as the temperatures climbed up to 32 with the humidex.