An 18-year-old called 911 twice before dying because she was in a dead-end apartment and was trapped in the fire at the heritage building in Old Montreal.
• Read also: Major fire in Old Montreal: at least six people are missing
• Read also: Major fire in Old Montreal: a woman is missing, smoke alarms possibly missing
“She was an 18-year-old girl who had her whole future ahead of her,” sighs Louis-Philippe Lacroix, in an interview with The newspaper.
On Wednesday evening, her daughter Charlie went to join friends in an Airbnb-type accommodation on rue du Port, in Montreal, to spend the night there.
One of her girlfriends who had finally given up going there recognized the next morning on television the building where Charlie Lacroix was supposed to be in flames.
“She was looking on social networks and had no news, my daughter was not responding,” says Mr. Lacroix.
Charlie’s friend then contacted him. The latter quickly went to the police station to report the disappearance of his daughter.
There he learned that Charlie’s last phone tracking was broadcasting in the burned building and that she had made two calls to 911 when the fire broke out.
“They said they couldn’t get out because there was no window in the apartment,” said Mr. Lacroix, according to what the authorities told him.
Reflection
He and his family went to the scene of the tragedy on Saturday noon to pay their last respects to young Charlie and thus move forward.
“Charlie was funny, full of life, loving, filled with a human potential that we would have liked to see develop so much”, testified by message his cousin, Laurence Anne Bettez, very tested by the drama.
“I was extremely lucky to be a go-to person for her, the one she called when she needed to talk. We have lived through wonderful times and more difficult times, ”she says.
New balance sheet
Saturday evening, the Montreal Fire Department confirmed that at least seven people were still missing.
Camille Maheux, a retired photographer who lived in the building for thirty years, is among them, according to our information.
The other victims, who are still considered missing by the authorities, have still not been identified.
For the moment, research is not possible since the building is too unstable.
However, SIM officials are working on an intervention plan to allow the teams to conduct safe searches, while trying to maintain the heritage structure.
The Montreal Police Department has meanwhile called on its specialized intervention teams to take images with a drone to allow the police to begin the investigation.
– With the QMI Agency and the collaboration of Anne-Sophie Jobin, TVA Nouvelles
