The second victim of a fire that struck a building on the southeast corner of Oxford Park one week ago today has been identified as Sarah Hassane, an 18-year-old Egyptian who came to Montreal five months ago to study.Hassane's brother was also a student in Montreal. She was working part time job as a barmaid at the Catalonia Soccer Plex.
There was initial hope that she might be saved after being pulled out from the fire at 5563 St. James W., as emergency staff had resuscitated her but she died about a dozen hours later.
The other victim was Henry Luke Rachwalski, 22, a musician from Victoria.
The rest of his band, Canvas,* lived in an apartment across the street.Following the blaze one of his bandmates expressed anger in a note on Facebook directed at the local fire squad, which he insinuated could have done a better job getting to the blaze.
It was likely written out of frustration but it was possible that he had some insight into the event, being close friends and neighbours.
It should be noted that Hassane was not Rachwalski's girlfriend.
A friend of their family tells me that Rachwalski's girlfriend was also present and was badly burned in the fire, which, according to the account of Charlie the overnight cameraman, was not a major one as far as these things go.
Police initially said said that the male victim in the fire was a 40-year-old man, so some are under the impression that three people died in the fire. But in fact there were only two.
The white building next door was the site of a fatal explosion in 1977.
*According to their Facebook profiles they are Petey Keys Ravensfjörd, Jimi James Fraser and Darren Venoit.