One person missing, five injured after a house fire near Quebec City

Firefighters sift through debris at a home in Saint-Georges (Noovo Info)

One person was unaccounted for Wednesday morning after a fire that ravaged a home in Saint-Georges, in Quebec's Beauce region.

Five other people are also hospitalized, but their lives are not in danger, according to authorities.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said the blaze broke out at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday evening in the home on 90th Street.

Firefighters arrived on the scene to fight the fire and were still on scene Wednesday morning to extinguish it, even though there was virtually nothing left of the residence.

The provincial police said Wednesday morning that one person, whose gender and age were not disclosed, was still missing. The five people taken to hospital were treated for smoke inhalation.

As the event was still in progress on Wednesday morning, the SQ was not in a position to comment on the possible causes of the fire.

"For the moment, it's too early to establish any hypothesis," said Sgt. Hélène St-Pierre, noting that the firefighters' intervention was continuing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 17, 2024.