It’s now confirmed that two bodies have been discovered after a fire ripped through a commercial building in Chinatown.
Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service began working tirelessly to tackle the blaze on Nicholas Street in the city centre after the alarm was raised at 2:15am this morning.
Brave firefighters fought off the flames well into the morning but police have now revealed that two people tragically lost their lives in the fire.
Chief Inspector Gareth Parkin, from GMP’s city centre team, said: “These are tragic circumstances and we working to identify the people who were found in the building.
“A joint investigation with GMFRS is in its early stages and we will be carrying out a number of enquiries to establish how this fire started.
“I would appeal to anyone with any information about this incident to please call us.”
Due to the nature of their injuries, both bodies are yet to be identified after they were discovered with the help of search and rescue dogs on the first floor of the building.
GMFRS Borough Commander Paul Etches has since acknowledged rumours that homeless people would regularly sleep in the property.
However he was keen to point out that the building’s ‘complex layout’ would make it difficult to confirm such details at this time.
GM Etches says the search operation in the damaged building will be long and complex. pic.twitter.com/zGzepTfNBC
— Manchester Fire (@manchesterfire) November 25, 2016
He explained: “There’s been a lot of fire damage and some collapse within the building
“It’s a very, very complex layout so it’s going to take us a lot of time to do a proper search.”
The Group Manager added that it was possible that pockets of smoke would be seen in the city centre ‘well into the day’.
Earlier today, the impact of the fire led to huge amounts of congestion as police officers cordoned off the route between Charlotte Street and Princess Street.
This meant that many buses were forced to divert from their usual route.
Information can be passed on to police by calling 101 and quoting incident number 146 of 25 November 2016 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
