Vancouver police say fire and death suspicious in home of mourning family

VANCOUVER – Police believe a fire that claimed the life of an unidentified person in a Vancouver basement was deliberately set.

In a tragic twist, the family upstairs had gathered to mourn the death of an 80-year-old tenant who died in an unrelated bus accident earlier Saturday.

Vancouver Police detectives say the death of the person in the house fire a few hours later appears to be suspicious.

They say the victim’s age and gender are not known and will be determined through an autopsy by the BC Coroners Service.

Hours before the blaze, an elderly woman boarding a charter bus parked at the Ross Street Sikh Temple was dragged several metres when the vehicle began rolling down a hill.

The woman sustained what were believed to be minor injuries, but she died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. (The Canadian Press, News 1130)