All seven victims of Old Montreal fire officially identified

All seven of the victims of the March 16 Old Montreal fire have now officially been identified, a day after the final two victims were recovered from the rubble.

Montreal police and the fire department held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon at the site of the Place d’Youville building to make the coroner’s findings public.

Police said it would be the final press briefing at Place d’Youville.

The final identifications include: Charlie Lacroix, 18, and Walid Belkahla, 18.

On Monday, the four identified were: An Wu, 31, friends Saniya Khan, 32, and Dania Zafar, 32, and Nathan Sears, 35.

The first victim was identified officially last week as Camille Maheux, 76.

Martin Guilbault, a division chief at the Montreal fire department, says investigators have confirmed no other victims remain.

“The most important part of our work in search of the victim is now completed,” he said.

“Our priority and the response to the fire has always been to restore respect and dignity to the victims and to support families and loved ones who are very affected by this tragedy. Seven people who were missing at the beginning of the investigation have all been found, pulled out of the rubble and identified.”

Guilbault says there were 22 people inside when the early-morning fire broke out – six escaped unharmed and nine were treated for injuries.

Some of the victims had rented units in the building on Airbnb, which was prohibited from allowing hosts to rent short-term rentals in the area due to a city bylaw.

Airbnb has since announced it would remove all listings in Quebec from its platform that don’t have a permit from the province.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Guilbault says the investigation will now focus on that.

“The coroner in charge of the investigation will work closely together to determine the cause and circumstances of the fire and the deaths that occurred during this tragic events,” said Guilbault.