Musi-Cafe, Restaurant At Centre Of Lac-Megantic Disaster, Reopens

Yannick Gagne stands in the new Musi-Cafe under construction in Lac-Megantic, Que., Wednesday, June 11, 2014. The restaurant-bar at ground zero of the deadly train derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in July 2013 is back in business.The Musi-Cafe quietly opened its doors to the public today in a new location, about 400 metres from the original site. | CP

MONTREAL - The restaurant-bar at ground zero of the deadly train derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec in July 2013 is back in business.

The Musi-Cafe quietly opened its doors to the public in Lac-Megantic on Monday, about 400 metres from the original site.

Owner Yannick Gagne said only three of the original employees have returned to work with him in his new establishment.

"One of them is my chef, a friend," he told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.

"I have a girl who worked for me for three or four years she's coming back and one of my good friends, Karine Blanchette, will handle all the artists who will come here."

At the time of the disaster, Blanchette told reporters two children were left orphans after one of her friends died in the tragedy.

Many of the 47 victims were inside the Musi-Cafe when a runaway oil-tanker train rolled off the tracks and exploded in the heart of the town.

Gagne lost three workers in the blast and about a dozen have decided not to come back to work with him.

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Musi-Cafe, Restaurant At Centre Of Lac-Megantic Disaster, Reopens