AFTER A LONG, HARD, CANADIAN WINTER,
A BEAUTIFUL SUMMER NIGHT FINALLY ARRIVES
IN LAC-MÉGANTIC.
12:45 A.M.
The drinks are flowing, and the band at the Musi-Café on Main Street is well into its second set. When the bar owner’s 23-year-old pregnant wife, Lisandra Arenciba, appears, the crowd breaks into song, singing, “Para bailar La Bamba!” at the top of their lungs. Lisandra is from Cuba, and ‘La Bamba’ is the one song everyone in the French crowd jokes that they
know in Spanish.
12:55 A.M.
About five miles northwest of the town, on the crest of a long steep hill, the wheels of Montreal, Main & Atlantic #002, a 10,290-ton freight train, begin to roll. The squeak of the wheels echoes into the night and then silence returns. But minutes later, its insufficient brake system completely gives way and the train starts to slide down the hill.
1:10 A.M.
At the Musi-Café, the band takes a break, and the crowd begins to thin out. Some choose to head home or linger inside the bar while a handful step out back for one last smoke. All routine decisions with tragically unforeseen consequences as the runaway train has just fled through four road crossings and is heading straight towards a dangerous curve just behind the crowded bar.
1:15 A.M.
Six million litres of toxic Bakken shale oil explode. Musi-Café is annihilated as an apocalyptic inferno flattens the town. Within seconds, forty-seven are dead.
