Canada rail disaster death toll hits 35 The death toll in the Canada rail disaster hit 35 as authorities continue to search the environment. TWO more bodies have been found in downtown Lac-Megantic, the Quebec town devastated when an oil tanker train derailed and exploded, bringing the body count to 35 of the 50 presumed dead. Two damaged and unstable buildings in the disaster zone were demolished on Sunday afternoon, police added, to allow searchers safer access to the area as the search for corpses continues. Temperatures are very high, which slows down the operations. Three firefighters were lightly wounded on Sunday, but they were cared for on the scene," said provincial police spokesman Michel Forget. Waves of fire gutted several streets in the town centre. The disaster appears to have been caused by an engineer's failure to properly set the hand brake on the runaway, the railway's chairman said this week. Forget said that the work to recover the bodies of the victims is being made difficult because of the toxic conditions in the downtown area, where about 30 buildings - including a reportedly crowded bar - were virtually completely destroyed in the firestorm. Because of the toxic conditions in the ground zero area of town, investigators and specialised body recovery teams are working in protective suits. Quebec authorities also said that of the human remains recovered so far only nine have been able to be identified. A large number of the fatalities were in the Musi-Cafe bar, which stood alongside the tracks. A witness who managed to escape the inferno said that there were between 30 and 50 people inside the bar at the time of the initial blast.