Coroner identifies 40th victim of Lac-Mégantic disaster. Admits that remaining 7 missing people will never be identified

Using microscopic bone fragments and DNA samples, forensic anthropologists have identified the 40th victim of the train derailment at Lac-Mégantic last July.

Jimmy Sirois, 30, has been positively identified and removed from the list of missing persons.

The Quebec coroner’s office had a monumental task after the explosion and fire that decimated the town of Lac Mégantic on July 6.

In all, 47 people were reported dead and with the positive identification of Sirois there are still seven officially classified as missing.

In a statement, the coroner’s office said that due to the intense heat of the fire, fed by tanker trucks full of volatile petroleum products, and the destruction to human remains, it will be impossible to identify any more of the missing.

The coroner's office posted a list on its web site of the victims who were positively identified and the seven whose remains were not recovered but who've been declared legally dead. Most range in age from 57 to 77 but they include a nine-year-old girl. The youngest victim of the disaster was four, the oldest 93.

According to QMI Agency, work identifying the victims was done by forensic experts in Montreal and the United States.

"This work consisted primarily of analyzing fragments and human remains that had been highly altered by the intensity of the fire to which they were exposed, making it impossible to identify all the people who died in the fire," coroner's spokeswoman Genevieve Guilbault said.

The coroner's news release said victim remains now would be released and discussions were underway with relatives and the local parish priest as to when and how they would be returned.

Findings from the coroner's investigation will be made public when it's completed, the agency said

The Lac-Megantic disaster is the deadliest railway explosion in Canadian history.

Thursday 10 April 2014

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Coroner+identifies+40th+victim+M%C3%A9gantic+disaster+Admits+that+remaining+missing+people+will+never/9719499/story.html

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