- The train's engineer parked it for the night and checked into a hotel
- A little more than an hour later, it rolled downhill, derailed and exploded into flames
- At least one death is reported
(CNN) -- A train that leveled part of a Canadian town was parked for the night before it rolled downhill, derailed and burst into a giant fireball, its company said.
At least one person was killed and others are feared missing, the Quebec provincial police said. It also destroyed an unknown number of buildings in the tiny lakeside town of Lac-Megantic.
"It's like the town has been cut by a knife," Sgt. Gregory Gomez del Prado told CNN affiliate CBC. Authorities declined to provide an exact number of the people missing.
Its engineer tied and parked it seven miles away from the town center before he checked into a motel Saturday night, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said in a statement.
A little more than an hour later, the train slipped downhill into the town, the company said. The runaway train, which was pulling more than 70 tankers of crude oil, leveled the downtown.
"Railway personnel were able to pull 13 carloads intact from the site at the rear of the train," the statement said. "We extend heartfelt condolences to those residents of Lac Megantic who have lost their homes and businesses, and particularly those who have suffered injuries and lost loved ones."
The tiny Lac-Megantic town, population 6,000, is in Quebec province.
The inferno engulfed nearby homes and sent thick plumes into the sky. Authorities evacuated about 1,000 people, most from the center of the town and a home for the elderly.
As authorities worked to get more details, residents of the scenic town grappled with the loss.
"What I will say is we do expect we'll have other people who will be found deceased, unfortunately," Lt. Guy Lapointe, a spokesman for Quebec provincial police, told the affiliate.
"We also expect that down the line the number of people who are reported missing with regards to people that who have actually lost their lives will much higher in the sense that there will be more people reported missing that people actually found dead."
Residents told the affiliate they have never seen anything like it.
"It's dreadful," Claude Bedard said. "It's terrible. We've never seen anything like it. The Metro store, Dollarama, everything that was there is gone."
Police were questioning the train's conductor.
Emergency services are working overnight to deal with the crisis.
"We have deployed all resources to ensure that we can support our citizens," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said.
Firefighters from the United States are helping fight the blaze.
Five of the trucks deployed from the United States are from Franklin County, Maine.
CNN's Joe Sterling, Pierre Meilhan, Darrell Calhoun, Jake Carpenter, Ben Brumfield, Dave Alsup and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.
