Bad weather halts search for bodies in elderly home
Print Edition
High winds and driving snow forced Quebec police yesterday to suspend their search for bodies in the ice-clad ruins of a seniors’ residence following a fire that authorities now believe killed 32 people.
Specialist teams at the site of Thursday’s blaze in the small Canadian town of L’Isle-Verte worked through the night, using steam and a machine blowing hot air to try to melt ice that in some places was 60 centimeters thick.
But with winds battering the canvas tents erected on the site and thick snow blocking out the searchlights, police decided early yesterday they could not go on. Temperatures hovered around minus 14 degrees Celsius.
“The difficult weather conditions have forced us to temporarily suspend the search,” the provincial Surete du Quebec police force said in a statement.
L’Isle-Verte, 230 kilometers northeast of Quebec City, was due to hold a memorial service yesterday, for those who died when the three-storey wooden building erupted into flames.
Despite media reports alleging a cigarette ignited the blaze early on Thursday, police say they still don’t know the cause.
Ten bodies have been recovered and 22 people are still missing in the frozen ruins of the Residence du Havre in the town of 1,500 people, situated on the St Lawrence River and 65 kilometers north of Maine.
The memorial service will be led by local priest Gilles Frigon, who said the church wanted to help rebuild the hearts of the community.
“We celebrate with them but when they suffer, we suffer,” he said tearfully on Saturday. A larger public mass is due to be held in the town on February 1.
Before the search was halted police had said the teams on site would split into two groups yesterday, with one set of specialists continuing to attack the ice while the other would look for the remains of victims.
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