The bodies of three people who had been missing since the violent explosion that occurred last Thursday in Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan were found Monday on the site of the company Propane Lafortune.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) confirmed Monday evening that the search which had been underway for four days had made it possible to locate the remains of the three victims. No information was immediately released regarding their identities.
“The victims will be transported to the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine so that expertise can be carried out, but also in order to formally identify the victims according to the requests of the Coroner’s Office”, specified Hélène St-Pierre, spokesperson for the SQ.
The day after the explosion, it was revealed that two Propane Lafortune employees and a subcontractor were still missing. The SQ had also indicated that it was in communication with three families.
The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined and the police investigation by the SQ continues. Investigators will continue to meet with witnesses to shed light on this incident.
“Fire scene technicians and major crime investigators from the Sûreté du Québec are continuing to analyze the scene and are working in partnership with experts from the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine, as well as with the Bureau of Canada’s transportation safety,” added Sergeant St-Pierre.
Residents of Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan gathered Sunday for a mass in solidarity with the families of the three people who were then missing. Several hundred people were in the pews of the local church when the ceremony began shortly after 10:30 a.m.
While police said last week they did not believe the explosion was a criminal act, Sergeant St-Pierre was more cautious when questioned about it on Sunday, saying it “was still too early to comment on the causes and circumstances surrounding this event”.
She added that “legal steps” had to be taken to allow the investigators to continue their work, but she did not add any details on this subject.
Field research was not easy for the SQ in the first hours following the explosion. First, the fire took several hours to be brought under control by firefighters, then, the next day, a snowstorm hit the small municipality in the Lanaudière region.
“It’s an outdoor scene that is damaged: there was fire, the explosion … there is debris that flew several tens of meters,” said Sergeant Éloïse Cossette, also spokesperson, on Thursday evening. of the SQ.