The RCMP Major Crimes Unit identified 54-year-old Barinder Singh Tiwana as the one person killed during the fire that destroyed the Bashaw Motor Inn October 9.

RCMP and firefighters responded to the fire at about 1:15 a.m. at the motel located in the area of 44 Avenue and 55 Street.

RCMP found the remains of one person after searching through the debris. The victim could not be immediately identified due to a broken water main that prevented police from recovering the body.

After an autopsy in Calgary, the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Tiwana’s death through DNA testing.

Tiwana’s wife and two sons were taken to an Edmonton hospital with injuries, RCMP told CTV Edmonton. The mother has been released, but the two boys remain in the hospital.

The Tiwana family owned the motel, and a GoFundMe page has raised over $17,000 for them.

"They are a community family, and we wanted to make sure people had an opportunity to donate to a fund that would support them no matter where they lived," Jackie Northey, the woman who started the GoFundMe page, told CTV Edmonton.

In a press release, police said “work is far from over” and the investigation is ongoing.

On October 12, RCMP found a graffiti displaying a racist slur inside the property of the destroyed building, but it's unclear wether the graffiti and the fire are related.

Anyone with information about the fire is asked to contact Bashaw RCMP at 780-372-3793. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Bashaw is 135 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.