The Sûreté du Québec (SQ), however, excludes the theory of a criminal act. This is the conclusion reached by investigators from the SQ’s major crimes division.
Emergency services were called on March 29 around 6:30 p.m. for a fire that broke out in the building of the seafood processing company. The company was best known for processing northern shrimp, which which gave birth to the famous “Matane shrimp”.
The destructive element was controlled around 2:30 a.m. “On March 30, following obtaining certain information, the decision was taken to transfer responsibility for the investigation to the major crimes division of the Sûreté du Québec,” recalls the police force by way of press release.
The facts
As soon as it arrived at the scene of the disaster, the team from the public security service of the City of Matane requested reinforcement from firefighters from the regional fire safety service of La Matanie and the fire department of the City of Mont-Joli.
Despite the fighting efforts of 35 firefighters, the fire quickly spread throughout the building.
From the very first moments, the municipal civil security team evacuated all residents from areas at risk of airborne contamination, in collaboration with SQ police officers.
The evacuation radius extended over several kilometers, in particular because of the danger of ammonia poisoning. Guests of the Quality Inn hotel in Matane, which is located in front of the factory, also had to be evacuated. A disaster assistance center had been set up at the Matane secondary school. The event caused no injuries.
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