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5 dead, 30 missing in blaze at Quebec retirement home

By Agencies in L'Isle-Verte, Canada | China Daily | Updated: 2014-01-25 08:09

Police were sifting overnight through burned remains of a wooden, three-story retirement home in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec, searching for 30 elderly residents who were still missing after a fire killed at least five people.

Fanned by high winds, the fire on early Thursday morning engulfed an older section of the Residence du Havre in the small community of L'Isle-Verte on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, about 230 km northeast of Quebec City.

The building only had a partial sprinkler system, according to a document filed by the residence. Acting Mayor Ginette Caron said many of the residents had used wheel chairs or walkers, while some had Alzheimer's disease.

Firefighters battled for five hours in temperatures as low as minus 22 C to extinguish the blaze.

"The problem we face now is the weather conditions. To fight the fire, water had to be used, and that water has frozen," Quebec police spokesman Guy Lapointe said.

He added that police intend to work carefully, both to stay safe in the extremely difficult conditions and to ensure that the remains of potential victims remain intact.

"In the next few hours, if all goes well, we'll begin to work on scene and, if the lighting we've brought in allows it, the objective is to work through the night," said Lapointe.

Police later raised the death toll to five from an initial three while maintaining the number of missing at 30.

About 20 people were rescued, some of whom were taken to a hospital. Police said not all the missing should be assumed to have died since some could be staying elsewhere or traveling with their families.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight and was extinguished about five hours later. More than half the residence was burned to the ground.

5 dead, 30 missing in blaze at Quebec retirement home

Witness Pascal Fillion told public broadcaster RDI that at 1 am a large part of the building was already on fire, caused in part to the high winds.

"There was one person we saw, who they wanted to save, but he was on the top floor, and with the fire and the wind they weren't able to come any closer," Fillion said.

Video footage of the blaze showed huge sheets of flame leaping into the air.

According to a document filed with the Quebec health ministry, the residence was home to 52 people, 37 of whom were 85 or older. It had a maximum capacity of 60 people.

Undamaged parts of the building were covered in icicles and thick sheets of ice in the extreme sub-zero temperatures.

One man described to RDI how his grandmother had called for help from a second-floor balcony and said efforts to reach her by ladder had failed.

"She died on the balcony," he said, his voice breaking.

The residence's website says the building was built in 1997 and expanded in 2002, and that it had sections for people who were independent and semi-independent, and for those who needed more assistance.

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said she was "deeply saddened" by the tragedy and sent several government ministers to the site to offer assistance.

According to The Canadian Press, the worst-ever fire in a Canadian nursing home occurred in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec, in 1969, when 54 people died.

Reuters-AP

(China Daily 01/25/2014 page8)

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