The week that saw a small Oldham community rocked by tragedy

When a huge fire broke out at Bismark House Mill in Oldham over two months ago, local residents in the small community of Derker assumed it was 'just a mill full of tiles.'

And fire crews who attended the blaze on May 7 believed the same. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spent four days extinguishing the flames - working under the knowledge the building was empty.

Demolition work had begun to dismantle the mill, which had previously been used to house companies including a tile shop, when workers made a shocking find last Saturday (23 July).

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The discovery of human remains relating to one person prompted a major incident to be declared - and initiated a huge search operation at the site of the former mill.

Two days earlier, Greater Manchester Police had received a tip that four Vietnamese nationals had been missing since around the date of the fire, and were feared to have been inside the building at the time.

The M.E.N understands the force were alerted to the possibility by a Catholic church in London, after they were contacted by a family in Vietnam who hadn't heard from their son since May 7 - the date of the blaze.

Assistant chaplain at the Vietnamese Catholic Community, Father Anthony Nguyen Tri said he was contacted by the man's family who wanted to know if their son was "dead or alive."

As the search operation continued this week, specialist teams made the horrific discovery of a second set of human remains - taking the total death toll at the mill so far to two.

Detectives from GMP's Major Incident Team have warned that the body count may still rise, as they remain 'conscious of the report we received, on Thursday 21