Two more bodies were discovered overnight after a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in eastern Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a town's centre. That brings the confirmed death toll to three.

Quebec provincial police lieutenant Michel Brunet said that fires are preventing rescuers from reaching parts of the train on fire, and that some of the other people who are missing are likely to be dead.

Police are still not saying how many other people are missing.

The eruptions sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky, witnesses said.