Distraught families have been told that 30 people who are still missing after the fiery crash of a runaway oil train in Canada are all presumed dead, Belfast Telegraph said.

Along with 20 bodies which have been found, it would put the death toll from Saturday's derailment and explosions in a Quebec lakeside town at 50.

Hours earlier the head of the U.S. railway company whose train crashed made his first visit to Lac-Megantic since the disaster amid jeers from residents and criticism from politicians, including the Quebec premier.

The rail chief blamed the engineer for failing to set the brakes properly before the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train hurtled down a seven-mile incline, derailed and ignited. All but one of the 73 cars was carrying oil, and at least five exploded. Edward Burkhardt, president and chief executive of parent company Rail World, said the engineer had been suspended without pay and was under "police control".

Parts of the devastated town had remained too hot and dangerous to enter and find bodies days after the disaster.

Some 60 people had been presumed missing earlier.