As the search through the rubble goes on, 1 body has been found and 6 people are still missing
An Wu went to a conference in Montreal last week and stayed an extra day to see more of the city.
Wu rented an Airbnb unit in Old Montreal. According to her friend, Pantong Yao, her family and friends last heard from her on Wednesday night.
In a video call, Yao told CBC News, “We can’t find her.”
Yao is not the only one. Speaking to CBC News from Pakistan, Zafar Mahmood said that his daughter, Dania Zafar, is also missing.
“She has been my friend for a long time. I think this is the end of everything. I have nothing left.”
Wu and Zafar are among the people who haven’t been seen since a fire broke out early Thursday morning in an old building in Old Montreal.
Around 5:30 a.m., the fire started. People were calling for help from windows, and at least one person jumped from the burning building near the corner of Place d’Youville and St-Nicolas Street, according to people who saw it.
WATCH | More and more people want to stop illegal short-term rentals:
Nine people were taken to the hospital, and three of them were seriously hurt. Sunday, the body of a woman who had not been identified was found in the rubble of the apartment building. Six others haven’t been found yet.
Valérie Plante, the mayor of Montreal, has asked the government of Quebec and Airbnb to work more closely with the city to stop illegal short-term rentals. Still, the families of the victims have questions.
Questions about how safe a building i
Jill Zhu said that Wu’s family has asked Airbnb for more information about the listing and the rental agreement. Zhu said that Airbnb told the family that the information would only be given to the police.
She said that they are wondering if each unit had working windows, carbon monoxide detectors, a safe way to get out, and a fire alarm that could have woken up sleeping guests before the fire burned down the building.
Yao said that Wu is from China, but she has been living and studying in the U.S. to finish her postdoctoral training in neuroscience. Her family and friends are doing everything they can to find her, but their hope that she is still alive is fading.
“At first, we thought she had been taken away. So we asked people in the area if they could help us find her “said Yao.
Someone went from hospital to hospital in Montreal to look for him, but he said, “It’s hopeless.”
Wu’s friend Shijia Liu said that Wu would often work on her research for 18 hours a day in the lab.
Liu said, “She is seen as a child genius and a great role model for her whole family and her whole extended family.”
The struggle of not knowin
Mahmood said that Dania and her childhood friend went to Montreal last Wednesday for a quick overnight trip. That same night, he talked to her.
“She took us to our hotel. She said it was pretty good and had a window, “Mahmood said that Dania chose the Old Montreal building because of its history and how it inspired her art.
She was supposed to stay at an Airbnb for one night and then go back to her home in Toronto the next day, but she never went home.
When Dania, who was 32 at the time, didn’t answer her phone, her family started to worry. They sent a friend to her apartment in Toronto to check on her, but she wasn’t there. When the family finally decided to file a report about a missing person, a Montreal detective got in touch with them.
Mahmood said, “I think she was in the wrong place at the wrong time with everything going against her.”
Mahmood says that his daughter has a free spirit and is living her dreams on her own. She had started the process of becoming a Canadian citizen.
“She was such a nice person. Whenever someone meets her, they never forget her. She is fond of cats. She really likes plants. She is fond of plants, “he said.
Mahmood says he wants to know why his daughter hasn’t been found yet and wants more answers and openness.
“She lived on the third floor,” he told her. “By now, she should have been better.”
On Monday, Montreal police said that taking apart the second and third floors of the building would be a long and careful process. Police haven’t named the people who died or said who is missing yet. The building’s roof fell in, so police, firefighters, and forensic investigators brought in heavy equipment to help them look through the building.
“It will be very hard to work in these conditions,” said Fady Dagher, chief of police in Montreal. He also said it was too early to say how the fire started.
Still, Mahmood said that the lack of information is making him angry. At this point, it’s not clear if she’s getting medical care or if her body needs to be found and identified.
“We need a proper funeral. We need to give her a proper farewell “he said.
“I’m looking for my daughter. What was wrong with her? Why weren’t any safety measures taken? What happened? Who is to blame?”
He said that other families shouldn’t have to go through the pain of not knowing, but the Mahmoods still hope that Dania is alive.
‘Every day, we used to talk
Dania and her friend Saniya Mazhar Khan, who was visiting from Detroit and is 31 years old, were in Montreal.
Mazhar Khan, Saniya’s father, says that they met when they were about 10 years old in Pakistan.
Khan said that they were writing a book together and had a lot in common.
He said, “They were very humble and true to their religion.” “They behaved very well. They are both.”
Khan said that he has lost a piece of his heart. He said she was going to school in Detroit to get her master’s in public health.
“We used to talk every day,” he said. “She would tell me everything. She would talk about her problems, her plans, and everything else.”
Khan thought back to the pictures she’d send and the talks they’d have on the way to and from school.
“She always told us about her happiness,” Khan said. “She would talk, mostly to her mother.”
Khan went to Montreal as soon as he heard about the fire. When he saw the wreckage, he went back home to take care of his family because, he said, it was clear that his daughter was buried in the building’s collapse. This week, he is going back to Montreal because he doesn’t want to leave the city without her.