(Montreal) Examination of the remains of the building in Old Montreal that burned down last Thursday did not find any new victims on Monday, according to what Inspector David Shane, of the Service of police of the City of Montreal (SPVM).
As a result, six people remained missing after the disaster. The body of a woman whose identity has not yet been announced was extricated from the remains of the building on Sunday evening.
Division chief Martin Guilbault, of the Montreal Fire Department (SSIM), explained on Tuesday that the day before, it was impossible for the various teams to enter the rubble of the building located at the intersection of the rue du Port and Place d’Youville.
Inspector Shane said authorities believe they have been able to identify areas of the building where dead bodies may be found. Equipment will be used on Tuesday so that the teams can approach the rubble, without however being able to walk through it.
On Monday, Chief Guilbault recalled that several stages of the dismantling of the building would be necessary in order to give safe access to the premises to the workers. The complex work could take one to two weeks.
For his part, the director of the SPVM, Fady Dagher, said that the investigation could well be of a criminal nature, although it is still too early to assume a hypothesis regarding the cause of the blaze.
At Tuesday’s press scrum, Inspector Shane and Chief Guilbault were accompanied by Géhane Kamel, permanent coroner in charge of the investigation, and Suzanne Marchand, senior director general of the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine.
