Final two victims of Old Montreal fire identified, investigation to focus on cause

All seven victims of a deadly March 16 fire in Old Montreal have been identified, police said Tuesday as the focus of the investigation shifted to what caused the blaze.

The remains of Charlie Lacroix and Walid Belkahla, both 18, were found in the rubble of the three-storey heritage building Monday, Montreal police Insp. David Shane told reporters. He said they are the final two victims to be formally identified by the coroner’s office.

Shane said dogs specialized in finding victims in rubble went through the scene multiple times Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and they detected no trace of victims other than those found. “So at this stage, we confirm that for us, there are no more victims in the rubble,” he said.

Martin Guilbault, a division chief with the Montreal fire department, said the investigation has been led by police since Friday, but the fire department will continue to support the police as needed.

“The most important part of our work, the search for victims is now complete,” he told the news conference. “Today and in the next few days, all our efforts will focus on finding the cause of the fire.”

Police have met the owner of the building, Emile-Haim Benamor, who provided them a sketch of the inside of the building that helped with the search for victims, Shane said.

“Unfortunately, I can’t share with you the hypothesis or the progress of the investigation to identify the cause and the circumstances, this is a police investigation,” he said. “This investigation started in a broad way, like all fire investigations. All the hypotheses are being analyzed, all the elements are being closely scrutinized.”

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In total, there were 22 people inside the building when the fire broke out, he said — six escaped unharmed and nine were treated for injuries. He said firefighters rescued six people with ladders, adding that one person jumped from a second-storey window.

Those killed in the fire included a long-term resident of the heritage building as well as people who had booked accommodation on short-term rental sites such as Airbnb, which are illegal to use in the part of Montreal where the building is located. The tragedy prompted the short-term rental platform to announce last week that it would pull listings in Quebec that don’t have a permit from the provincial government.

Lacroix, who was visiting the city from the suburb of Terrebonne, Que., was one of those who had rented accommodation in the building on a short-term rental site. Her father has said she was in an apartment with a friend and called 911 twice as the fire spread through the building, unable to escape because the unit had no window.

Police previously identified the other victims as An Wu, 31; Dania Zafar, 31; Saniya Khan, 31; Nathan Sears, 35; and Camille Maheux, 76.