LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. – More than 1,000 people marched in solemn silence early this morning along the edge of Lac-Megantic’s railroad as they remembered last year’s deadly train disaster.
They began the walk after observing a moment of silence at 1:15 a.m. — the exact moment on this day last year when a runaway train derailed in the centre of the Quebec town and exploded in a series of cataclysmic fireballs killing 47 people.
Though a year has passed, the emotional scars in the community remain as deep as the physical damage that’s still so apparent on the local landscape.
The walk followed a midnight mass and a moving speech by Mayor Colette Roy Laroche.
Roy Laroche urged townsfolk to turn the page on the tragedy and look to the future — but to never forget.
The Lac-Megantic church will hold another Roman Catholic mass later this morning — a service expected to attract dignitaries including Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.
