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People missing after Old Montreal fire aren't 'numbers, they're concrete persons'

"We won't be able to give names very fast. We cannot make a mistake," police say.

Firefighters continue to investigate the scene of the fire in Old Montreal on Monday March 20, 2023. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette
Firefighters continue to investigate the scene of the fire in Old Montreal on Monday March 20, 2023. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette

Six people are still missing after a fire tore through a historic building in Old Montreal on Thursday.

Police and firefighters are going to start doing a manual and meticulous search through the rubble of the three-storey building today, Montreal police Inspector David Shane said Tuesday morning. Certain parts of the building have been identified as potentially the areas where victims could be found, he said.

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“These areas have been targeted as a result of reconstruction work and the probable positioning of the victims in the building at the time of the fire,” Shane said. “We want to find every missing person and find the cause and circumstances of this fire.”

Police and firefighters could not go into the building on Monday.

“Due to the risk of collapse of the structure, firefighters were unable to physically enter the site because of safety reasons,” said Montreal fire chief Martin Guilbualt.

Today they will use a crane to approach the rubble to do their search, he said.

Shane said families will be asked to provide DNA samples to help with identification of the victims. He warned that the process of identifying the victims will be long.

“For the public and families, they will feel that this process is long and unbearable,” Shane said. “We won’t be able to give names very fast. We cannot make a mistake.”

One person, a woman, was found in the rubble on Sunday night. She has not been identified yet.

Shane said police have met with the families of all the missing people.

“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “That’s why we are taking the controlled risk to find (the victims).”

The missing people are from Quebec, Ontario and the United States.

Quebec coroner Gehane Kamel is investigating the fire.

“The main objective of my work is to provide answers to the families, and possibly make recommendations,” she said Tuesday.

Nine people were injured in the five-alarm fire, which destroyed the heritage building at Place d’Youville and Port St. Firefighters had to use cranes and ladders to rescue people from windows and the roof. At least one person jumped from a window.

There were 15 residential units in the building, several of which were rented as Airbnbs. Airbnbs are not permitted in Old Montreal and on Monday politicians said they would crack down on illegal short-term rentals.

This story will be updated.

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