Sseven people are still missing after last Thursday’s fire in Montreal, at an illegal Airbnb in the historic part of the Canadian city, with the local mayor promising increased control over this form of accommodation.

Initially, authorities thought only one person was missing. However, it detected that the historic building affected by the fire was being used by several illegal Airbnb units, and they updated the number of missing persons to seven.

By Sunday evening, the number had fallen to six after authorities found a woman’s body in the rubble.

Some of the missing, housed in the 130-year-old building, are American citizens, the Associated Press said. The rest are from the Quebec region of Canada, and US authorities have contacted the family.

#Montreal
“At least one person is missing after a five-alarm fire blazed through a historic building in Old Montreal on Thursday morning.
The fire started around 5:45 a.m. in a building at the intersection of Place d’Youville and Saint-Nicolas Street.pic.twitter.com/am4pBJBsbT

— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) March 16, 2023

There were still nine people injured, two of them seriously. The cause of the fire is still unknown and no arrests have been made.

On Monday, the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, criticized the company Airbnb, which is known to operate as a worldwide tourist accommodation chain, for not following proper regulations regarding the operation of buildings.

“What happened here is a tragedy. Obviously, we wouldn’t be in this position if we were dealing with a company that took its responsibilities seriously and told these landlords that ‘if you don’t have a permit, you can’t rent a unit. .’ this will force people who act illegally and who do not pay taxes not to run away from their responsibilities”, Plante defended, quoted by the Associated Press.

Airbnb’s regional director in Canada assumed he was working with the city of Montreal, but did not comment further on the mayor’s criticism.

The building is beyond repair, and Montreal fire officials have announced that it will begin demolition starting this Monday, while authorities continue to search for six victims.

Airbnb rentals are illegal in Old Montreal, where the city has promoted policies to protect the area from aggressive exploitation of local accommodation and other forms of short-term tourist rentals.

The destroyed building is called Édifice William-Watson-Ogilvie and dates from 1890. The alarm system was renovated in 2019 and is operational.

Also Read: Airbnb begins banning people close to blocked users