(Montreal) A homeless woman in her sixties was found dead near the Berri-UQAM metro station overnight from Wednesday to Thursday in downtown Montreal. This is the second time in ten days that a homeless person has died in the midst of freezing cold in the metropolis.
Posted at 8:33 a.m.
Updated at 9:27 a.m.
Urgences-Santé confirms that it intervened at the corner of Berri and de Maisonneuve streets, a little after 1 a.m. Thursday morning, outside the metro entrance. A 911 call had been made shortly before to help a 64-year-old woman.
“She was in respiratory arrest when we arrived. Resuscitation was therefore carried out, but his death was finally confirmed. Then, the body was taken care of by the morgue, ”says a spokesperson for the ambulance corporation, Sébastien Coulombe.
We do not know for the moment the “exact cause” of the triggering of this respiratory arrest and, therefore, of the death of the lady.
At the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), officer Julien Lévesque confirms that the file has been transferred to the Coroner’s Office so that it can shed light on the circumstances of the death.
According to our information, several objects were found alongside the woman, who would be known to community organizations in the area. The lady also wore several clothes in order to face the polar temperatures of the last few days as best as possible.
This case is reminiscent of that of January 10, the day a 74-year-old man who lived in a camp lost his life Monday evening, in the middle of a cold snap in Montreal.
The fall of the mercury would have got the better of this man, who was found in a state of hypothermia and lifeless around 6 p.m. Monday evening. The eldest had been living for several years in a camp located in a wood, between Saint-Jacques Street and Highway 20 West, in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce sector. He was also known to community organizations in the area and probably refused to go to accommodation resources.
“These are people who don’t want to go into resources. They don’t want to leave their tent because for them, it’s their freedom,” commented Chantal Laferrière, director general of the St-Michael’s Mission, saying she was devastated by the events.