Police find 6th and 7th bodies inside site of Old Montreal fire
CTV
Police say they have found the sixth and seventh bodies inside a building in Old Montreal that burned down 11 days ago and do not expect find any more victims. With the death toll now expected to remain at seven, police said they can begin to focus their efforts on finding the cause of the deadly March 16 fire.
Police say they have found the sixth and seventh bodies inside a building in Old Montreal that burned down 11 days ago and do not expect find any more victims.
The last two victims' bodies were sent to a pathologist for formal identification. With the death toll now at seven, police said now they can focus their efforts on finding the cause of the deadly March 16 fire.
During a news conference Monday afternoon, Insp. David Shane and Montreal fire operations chief Martin Guilbault also revealed the identities of four more victims.
They are 31-year-old neuroscientist An Wu, childhood friends Dania Zafar and Saniya Khan, both 31 years old, and 35-year-old Nathan Sears, who had a PhD in political science from the University of Toronto. The coroner has previously identified the first fire victim as Camille Maheux, 76, a renowned Montreal photographer.
Guilbault confirmed Monday that police officers had been dispatched Friday to at least one other building belonging to Emile-Haim Benamor, the owner of the building that caught fire March 16. Police said the officers were there for about seven hours.
Guilbault did not specify exactly why the officers were sent, but he said it's not uncommon for the fire department to call on the police to help protect and secure a building.
The heritage building that was gutted by the fire was built in 1890 has been unsafe for fire crews to enter. Chief Guilbault said that over the weekend, crews were able to secure some of the walls of the building to avoid them collapsing on fire service workers.
