The engineer who had been in charge of the train was suspended without pay and was "in police control" on Wednesday, said the head of the rail company as he toured the shattered town. But Ed Burkhardt, president of Railworld, parent company of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic line, met jeering residents with a defense of his company's past safety record, saying it followed industry practices.

Some 50 people were either dead or missing and presumed dead in what is likely the worst rail disaster in North America since 1989. Authorities have not said how much oil the driverless runaway train was carrying when it careened into town and derailed on Saturday morning, but with 72 tanker cars, the