MONTREAL—Just after noon on Friday, two loud bangs tore through a rural section of Trois-Rivieres as a fire consumed the Motel La Havre and a neighbouring bar.
Four adults and two children were rescued from the building in the Cap-de-la-Madeleine sector of the city as emergency services responded to the scene of the explosion and fire.
The blaze started just after 12:30 p.m. on Courteau St. for reasons that are still unknown. First responders found wood and other lumber scattered across the property and several fires burning.
Michel Letarte, public relations officer for the Trois-Rivieres fire department, said the explosion happened where two buildings met—one of which was the motel section of a small commercial complex.
Letarte was not sure if anyone was inside the building that exploded. Offering a mix of short-term and long-term stays, investigators have confirmed that they are 99 per cent sure that no one was inside the motel at the time of the explosion.
Police are still investigating the cause of the explosion. Part of the investigation will focus on whether it was a criminal act, CTV Montreal’s Genevieve Beauchemin reports.
RCMP raided two of the rooms at the motel last year, along with several other locations, as part of a drug trafficking crackdown that resulted in the arrests of several people.
