At least five people are dead in the derailment of an automated train carrying oil tankers through a once-quiet little town in Quebec, Canada.  And the fear is that at least some of the 40 missing people will never be found because they might have been vaporized in the inferno.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Lac-Megantic, describing the devastation as looking like a “war zone”.  Dozens of buildings were incinerated as tanker after tanker from the derailed freight train exploded and burned.  Some 30 are just gone, many more buildings are heavily damaged.

“There isn't a family that is not affected by this,” said Harper adding, “There'll be investigations to ascertain what's occurred and make sure it can't happen again.”

The train left the tracks in the predawn hours on Saturday, each exploding oil tanker car turning the night into day, illuminating the way for 2,000 residents to evacuate.  This link goes to a video of what Lac-Megantic used to look like, with yet-to-be destroyed section of town beginning at about 2:20 in.