Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd.'s bankruptcy trustee is suing the owner of the crude oil its train was carrying when it derailed last summer, saying that the company's alleged negligence contributed to the accident that killed 47 people and partially destroyed a small Quebec town, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Chapter 11 trustee Robert J. Keach on Thursday filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court against World Fuel Services Corp. of Miami and several other companies, accusing them of falsely identifying the crude oil as a low danger when in fact it was highly volatile and dangerous. Keach said that World Fuel also knew — or should have known — that the type of tank cars carrying the oil were prone to rupture upon derailment, making the cars "unsafe and unsuitable" for the transport of the crude oil. Had MM&A known of the true dangers of the crude oil, Keach said, the railway would have taken such safety measures as not leaving the train unattended and parking it on a blocked side track. Instead, he said MM&A parked the train on a main track with a slight descending grade, from which the unattended train began its ill-fated descent into the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic early on July 6.
