With the extraction of three bodies located in the scene of a central Hamilton house fire complete, emergency service staff will continue their work to stabilise the house to allow a number of examinations to commence.
In acknowledging the work of fire-fighters and members of their Urban Search and Rescue Team, Detective Senior Sergeant Graham Pitkethley of the Waikato CIB said it was the efforts of these crews that enabled Police to begin the long journey of returning the deceased to their loved ones.
"Today these teams created an environment that was safe enough to allow the Police Disaster Victim Identification Unit to extract the bodies.
"This recovery phase was completed late this afternoon and the bodies are now being transported to Auckland for post-mortem examinations tomorrow."
Mr Pitkethley said it was expected the formal identification process would take some time to complete.
"While this is underway work will resume tomorrow further shoring up the two storey dwelling to the point where it is safe for forensic examiners to enter the scene, clear the building and try and determine what caused the fire.
"Again, this is expected to take several days. One of the things that will make things easier for the inquiry team is if those people who were at the property during the party or at the time of the fire make themselves known to Police."
Mr Pitkethley said Police were particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have videoed the party at the address on Friday night that went on into Saturday morning or who has footage of the fire.
"We know there were more people present than we have spoken to and we want to eliminate as many people as possible from our enquiries.
"At this point we would like to thank all the members of the public who have come forward already and all the business and building owners who have been affected by our operation or who have made facilities available to us."
