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1st LD: Oakland warehouse 85 percent searched, death tolls remains at 36

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Oakland warehouse where a deadly fire broke out over the weekend has been 85 percent searched and the death toll remained at 36 as of Tuesday morning, officials said.

Of the victims, 26 have been positively identified and their families notified, Alameda County Sheriff's Deputy Tya Modeste told a press briefing. Another nine bodies have been "tentatively identified," leaving one without any clue so far.

Overnight, via City of Oakland government's website, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office Coroner's Bureau released the names of 10 additional victims, all in their 20s or 30s and all were residents of northern California, including six from local communities. By Tuesday morning, the names of 17 victims have been released. The name of an additional victim of a 17-year-old minor was not released.

Noting that 85 percent of the site was cleared, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Robert Lipp said there was one corner of the two-story building unstable and therefore inaccessible for fire crews.

Also on Tuesday, the University of California, Berkeley, formally confirmed and identified that three member of the school community were among those killed in the fire. They included a junior student, a graduate and a volunteer at a community radio station licensed to UC Berkeley.

The search and recovery operation seemed to wind down as officials said they did not expect the fatalities to have a big increase. "We can't locate any other deceased victims," Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said on Monday, when 75 percent of the site was cleared, "we are not anticipating any more huge numbers."

The building, known as "The Oakland Ghost Ship," was permitted only as a warehouse. However, the structure in an industrial neighborhood of East Oakland was converted into art studios, a party venue and probably a residence.

The worst fire in the history of Oakland, a city in northern California, on the U.S. west coast, started at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday and continued into the Saturday morning, trapping people at an underground music event.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said investigators would try to find evidence of criminal liability and then decide who would be liable, and charges to be brought against those liable could be homicide or involuntary manslaughter.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement on Monday saying his administration was in close contact with state and local partners "to make sure that authorities have everything they need as they continue response operations and investigate the cause of the fire." Endit