LONDON - Investigators have found suspected human remains during a search of the Newquay hotel destroyed by a fire in which one person died and two others were reported missing.
Police said overnight they were treating the blaze at the Penhallow Hotel in the Cornish holiday resort asa major crime.
Most of the 86 guests were evacuated from the hotel, including many elderly holidaymakers, but police believe the two missing people died in the fire on Saturday.
"The search team has located what are believed to be human remains," a Devon and Cornwall Constabulary spokesman said. "The families of the two people who are unaccounted for have been advised."
Police have refused to speculate on the cause of the fire.
Detective Chief Inspector Darren Lockley, heading the investigation, told a news conference: "Our job is to establish the facts. We will treat it as a major crime until we get evidence to the contrary."
He described the blaze as "quite unique", but said he would draw on evidence from similar incidents in other parts of the country. He urged anyone with images of the blaze to hand them in as part of an effort to establish what happened.
No details were given on the one confirmed death, a man who is believed to have died falling from a window of the hotel. Four others are in hospital, one in a critical condition.
