Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has visited the town where a runaway train carrying crude oil came off the rails and exploded, killing five people.
Around 40 people remain unaccounted for after the unmanned 73-carriage freight train crashed on Saturday morning in Lac-Megantic in Quebec.
"This is an unbelievable disaster," Mr Harper said. "This is a very big disaster in human terms as the extent of this becomes increasingly obvious.
"You know, it looks like a war zone here. A large part of the downtown has been destroyed, it's just, it is really just terrible."
Fires were finally extinguished more than 24 hours after the accident, which forced up to 2,000 people to leave their homes.
More than 1,000 residents were told to leave the area (Pic: Quebec police) A rail operator confirmed the train had been parked out of town, but said it was unclear how it "got released".
Massive flames and thick smoke could be seen following the derailment, which caused several cars to explode.
Lieutenant Guy Lapointe, a spokesman for Quebec provincial police, said: "I don't want to get into numbers, what I will say is we do expect we'll have other people who will be found deceased unfortunately.
"We also expect that down the line the number of people who are reported missing with regards to people who have actually lost their lives will be much higher."
No one was on board the train when it rolled into the town, according to the operator the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMAR) company.
Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of Rail World Inc, the parent company of MMAR, said: "If brakes aren't properly applied on a train, it's going to run away.
A train wagon burning after the explosion "But we think the brakes were properly applied on this train.
"We've had a very good safety record for these 10 years. Well, I think we've blown it here."
Mayor Colette Roy-LaRoche was nearly in tears as she addressed the media, according to the Montreal Gazette.
"When you see the downtown of your city almost destroyed you think, how are we going to get through this? But I can assure everyone here that all the authorities and ministries have been very supportive," she said.
"We've deployed all the resources possible."
Four tanker cars blew up after the train, which had 73 cars in all, came off the rails shortly after 1am local time.
Environmental experts have also arrived in the town to assess how much oil may have spilled into the Chaudiere River.
Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette said: "Right now, there is big smoke in the air, so we have a mobile laboratory here to monitor the quality of the air.
"We also have a spill on the lake and the river that is concerning us.
"We have advised the local municipalities downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudiere River."
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