Last 2 victims found after deadly Old Montreal fire
CBC
Montreal police say the last two victims of a deadly fire that ripped through an Old Montreal heritage building have been found — bringing the total of dead recovered to seven.
Insp. David Shane said Monday afternoon that the bodies retrieved from the rubble of the 15-unit, multi-use building that went up in flames March 16 will be sent to a laboratory to be formally identified.
Police said a Quebec coroner also confirmed Monday the identity of four more victims: Dania Zafar, 32, Saniya Khan, 32, Nathan Sears, 35, and An Wu, 31.
Zafar, a Pakistani national living in Toronto, was visiting Montreal and staying on the third floor of the building the night it caught fire, according to her family. In a recent interview with CBC, her father, back in Pakistan, described her as a dreamer.
"She wanted to do things in her own way," said Zafar Mahmood. "I think she was at the wrong place at the wrong time with all the odds against her and we lost her," he said through tears.
Khan, who was studying medicine in Detroit, was best friends with Zafar. They had met as children in Pakistan and were inseparable, Saniya's father, Mazhar Khan, said in a recent interview.
Khan described his daughter as a selfless person who always thought of others.
"I feel like part of my body, part of my heart is gone," he said.
Sears, an academic from Toronto who holds a PhD in political science, was in town for the International Studies Association conference held at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel.
Wu, a neuroscientist from San Diego, is remembered by friends and family remembered her as a devoted scientist and a gifted scholar.
She was in Montreal to participate in an academic conference about computational neuroscience.
Last Wednesday, police confirmed the identity of the first victim whose body was found as 76-year-old Camille Maheux.
Still not identified is 18-year-old Charlie Lacroix, according to her grandfather. Robert Lacas says his granddaughter had called 911 from inside the building as the fire raged, stuck in a unit with no windows.
"She was a happy little girl — beautiful and happy," Lacas said in a recent interview. He is calling for an investigation into the building's safety.