A mother and her seven-year-old daughter from France were killed in a fire that ravaged a century-old building in Old Montreal early Friday morning – a blaze that major crimes detectives and the arson squad are investigating as “suspicious.”
Montreal police insp. David Shane identified the victims as 43-year-old Léonor Geraudie and seven-year-old Vérane Reynaud Geraudie at a Saturday afternoon news conference held a block away from the site of the blaze.
He offered no details about the victims besides their names.
“We’d like to express our most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of these victims,” said Shane.
The other 23 people believed to be in the building when the fire broke out all made it out, with one person remaining in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, Shane said.
“For the moment, there is no indication of additional victims,” the inspector said.
Friday’s fire started just before 2:40 a.m. on the ground floor, which housed a restaurant and wine bar called Loam, and quickly spread to the upper floors that were rented out to a third-party operating a 19-room hostel called Le 402.
City property records show the building at 400 Notre-Dame Street East was built in 1923 and belongs to Emile Benamor, the same owner of a heritage building nearby on Place D’Youville that went up in flames in March 2023 and killed seven people.
Multiple lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the Place D’Youville fire, and a coroner’s inquest is on hold until the conclusion of the police investigation and any potential criminal trials.