As a ceiling and wall collapsed on a woman desperately trying to flee the scene of an explosion at a Quebec propane distribution company, Éric Lizotte could only watch in horror.
The resident of St-Roch-de-l’Achigan, Que., whose home is just metres from Propane Lafortune, said he was in the middle of trying to rescue the unknown woman and anyone else trapped by the Thursday morning blast.
Three people remain missing after the explosion which Lizotte said left him shaken and grappling with indelible images, particularly related to his aborted rescue attempt.
“As I tried to remove debris, I felt this intense heat. It was a furnace. It was unbelievable. I put snow on my head to try to offset the heat as I tried to get closer to the lady. I heard explosions going off from every direction,” Lizotte said in a Saturday interview from his home about 50 kilometres north of Montreal….