$200M Settlement Reached in Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster
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BrianBrownImages/iStock/Thinkstock(MONTREAL) — Victims of the rail disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec have reached an out-of-court $200 million settlement with the railway.
Lawyers for the victims said on Friday they reached a deal for compensation with the Maine-based railway – Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic – its insurers and some of the oil producers.
In the summer of 2013, a huge fireball destroyed a large part of the normally sleepy Quebec village of Lac-Megantic, after a train derailed and its cargo of highly-flammable crude oil from North Dakota exploded.
There were 47 people killed in the blast.
Most of the victims had been enjoying a night out at a local club called the Musi-café. The club and all the homes and businesses near it were flattened in the explosion and resulting fire.
The $200 million deal still has to be approved by courts in the U.S. and Canada, but if it is, the money will be split between the families of those killed, injured, and people who suffered economic losses.
The Musi-café was rebuilt in a new location, and there was an emotional reopening last month.
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