One more body found in Lac-Megantic, bringing death toll to 38

Work continues at the crash site of the train derailment and fire in Lac-Megantic, Que., on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. (Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

One more body has been discovered at the site of the Lac-Megantic train derailment disaster, raising the death toll to 38.

Twelve victims have been positively identified so far, the coroner’s office said Tuesday. Another 12 are still believed to be missing in the so-called red zone, or epicentre of the blast.

The explosion occurred after a runaway tanker train derailed in the community and caught fire.

The search continued Tuesday as rescue workers combed through the accident scene, which largely consists of scorched earth, soot and oil-soaked rubble.

Police said rescue workers are dealing with intense summertime heat and can only work in 15-minute shifts.

Two rescue workers were injured on the weekend. One was overcome with heat exhaustion while the other had to be treated for debris that got into her eye. Both recovered from their injuries.

Search and rescue teams, including specially trained police, firefighters and forensic anthropologists, have been combing through the debris in staggering heat for more than a week since Canada's worst railway disaster.

Claude Plante, a paramedic, said teams are helping care for rescue workers in the red zone.

"We take the ambulance and we visit all the people and give them water, we check their vital signs, we do prevention," Plante said.

Train engineer ‘really down’

Tom Harding, the engineer who was operating the train before the derailment, is staying at an undisclosed location on his lawyer’s advice, hoping to avoid journalists.

The lawyer, Tom Walsh, told The Canadian Press that his client is “really down” and was in shock after the train explosion.

Harding had parked the train for the night on the tracks about 12 kilometres outside Lac-Megantic and went to a hotel to get some rest. Not long after, the train came loose and barrelled into town, skipping the tracks and setting off a series of explosions.

The chairman of theMontreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, Edward Burkhardt, has suggested that Harding is to blame for the disaster, saying he doesn’t believe the engineer applied all the hand brakes.

The company suspended Harding and has not shown him any support since the derailment, his lawyer said.

Survivors get financial help

Meanwhile, Lac-Megantic residents who survived the explosion are slowly beginning to get their lives back to normal.

On Monday, residents received some much-needed help to do just that, picking up $1,000 cheques at the local high school to help cover the cost of expenses incurred while many were unable to live in their homes, or operate their businesses.

"It's not the most important thing in my life at the moment. It's nice, but I'm just looking forward to things getting back to normal," said Louise Latoulipe after collecting her cheque.

In total, 800 households are expected to receive an emergency cheque -- part of $60 million in emergency funds earmarked by the Quebec government. In addition to the $1,000 cheques, each individual will also receive $200 for clothing and $20 per day for food.

The first 390 cheques were handed out Monday. More government aid will come later.

Residents are also finding ways to honour those who were killed. Fifty flower pots were placed at the local church in memory of those killed, and a funeral is expected to take place on July 27.

Late Saturday, police confirmed the names of seven of the victims. They are:

The coroner's office had earlier confirmed 93-year-old Eliane Parenteau -- who lived alone, close to the tracks -- also perished in the disaster.

With a report from CTV Montreal