Second body recovered from Old Montreal building destroyed by fire

Montreal police say a second body was recovered Tuesday after last week’s fire in Old Montreal.

Police had previously said one person was dead and six were missing after the March 16 blaze.

Updating media on Tuesday morning, the Montreal police force and fire department, as well the Quebec coroner in charge of the investigation and a spokesperson from the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine said the search would continue.

There was a serious risk the building will collapse and for safety reasons investigators cannot physically enter the building, making their work more complex.

The action plan for investigators Tuesday was to use a crane to look through the debris for possible victims. They also used specialized cameras.

Inspector David Shane, head of communications and spokesperson for the Montreal police department, says they will be accessing zones Tuesday for the first time, areas in the building that have been targeted as potentially where victims were staying.

“Every minute that passes for families is insufferable, we are working double time for them,” said Shane, while offering support to the loved ones of those still unaccounted for.

Gehane Kamel, the Quebec coroner in charge of the investigation, says she is working with both the fire department and the Montreal police force to determine the cause and circumstances of the fire.

Pathologists will also be on the scene to ensure the integrity of the scene is preserved. They will continue their work in the laboratory to determine the identity of victims as they are located, using DNA and dental records. They currently collecting DNA samples from family members to help them identify potential victims.

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The body of a woman was pulled from the rubble Sunday evening and an autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death.

“We are working as fast as possible to get answers for families,” said Suzanne Marchand, senior director general of the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine.

On Monday, as investigators combed through the scene, a few citizens, including friends of the victims, stopped by to lay flowers outside the barricaded site.

Police Chief Fady Dagher told reporters there could be more victims. At minimum, he said, the investigation could take two weeks.

The six people missing are from Quebec, Ontario and the United States, and investigators have contacted their families.

The fire also injured nine people, including two who remained hospitalized as of Monday.

Airbnb criticized

Quebec politicians criticized short-term rental company Airbnb on Monday for failing to be a proper corporate citizen, after discovering the building that was ravaged by the fire was used for illegal rentals.

Firefighters have said that several apartments in the building located in Old Montreal were being used as Airbnb rentals, and police have said that they didn’t know how many of the missing were tourists.

San Francisco-based Airbnb is “washing its hands” of the problem of illegal rentals in cities across the province, Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante told reporters outside the historic three-storey building. She said the company, which operates an online marketplace for short-term rentals, should ensure people listing their properties on the website have proper permits.

“Short-term rental platforms cannot just say that they are the ‘housing marketplace’ and then wash their hands of it afterwards,” Plante said. “If they want to be responsible corporate citizens, they have to help us enforce Quebec law and borough regulations.”

“It’s not normal to have a business that doesn’t worry about the legitimacy of the people who do business with it, and who puts the responsibility on municipal and provincial instances, so taxpayers pay. When you think about it, it’s totally absurd.”

On Monday, Airbnb’s regional policy lead for Canada said the company was providing support to those affected and assisting law enforcement. “We are also engaged with the mayor’s office,” Nathan Rotman wrote in a statement.

Alexandre Bergevin, a lawyer for the building’s owner, Emile-Haim Benamor, said on Sunday that Airbnb rentals in the building were not being operated by his client but by tenants, adding that steps had been taken to stop the practice.

No one has been charged in connection with the fire and the cause remains under investigation.

With files from the Canadian Press