Sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of those lost.

December 4, 2016

By Kimberly Veklerov, Hamid Aleaziz, Evan Sernoffsky and Peter Fimriteand 

Dread and anxiety (click here) accompanied the grim work of identifying bodies Sunday as dozens of families suffered through a second day of not knowing whether their loves ones were dead or alive.

The Alameda County coroner confirmed that 33 people had died in the fire and officials said they expect to recover more bodies. But by late afternoon Sunday only seven families had been notified, including an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy whose son was confirmed as being among the dead.

“We’re doing the identifications as fast as we can,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly, explaining that there were also victims from other countries, requiring notification of foreign embassies and the U.S. State Department....