KEANSBURG, N.J. -- Authorities found five more bodies Sunday in the rubble of the burned-out Beachview Rest Home, raising to 29 the death toll in the worst residential fire in New Jersey in nearly 20 years.
One resident was still missing. Police said they planned to resume the search Monday.
The 29 confirmed deaths surpassed the number of victims in a 1963 blaze at an Atlantic City boarding house that claimed the lives of 25 people.
Twenty workers spent the day clearing the fire-ravaged debris of the 75-year-old building, which burned down Friday morning.
By mid-afternoon, crews on two giant wrecking cranes removed the building facade from two sides of the two-story structure, revealing charred beams and floorboards dangling like toothpicks.
Authorities Sunday also identified three more victims whose bodies were removed soon after the fire.
Jane Higgins, director of social services for the Red Cross, said one of the victims, Juan Lopez, 36, had arrived in Keansburg a short time ago from Puerto Rico to join his family.
Higgins said Lopez was listed as a resident of the building, which was home to 110 mostly elderly and handicapped people.
Two other victims were identified as Murray Perzley and Ruth VanSise. Their ages were not known, Higgins said.
Authorities were also concerned Sunday about the disappearance of a survivor of the fire.
Higgins said Victor Aprinis walked away from the temporary shelter set up at a local firehouse Saturday afternoon and had not been seen since.
Authorities speculated Aprinis may have gone to another boarding home in the area to stay with friends, but he was not located Sunday afternoon, Higgins said.
A cause of the blaze had yet to be determined.
Authorities said they believe it might have started by a lighted cigarette tossed away or dropped accidentally by a resident.
Police were checking reports that a resident was smoking in the first-floor living room where the fire began. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility the fire was deliberately set, but did not considered it likely.
The state's ombudsman for the institutionalized elderly warned that New Jersey faced the prospect of more tragic fires at boarding homes unless standards were upgraded.
John Fay said most boarding homes are older buildings, generally in poor condition, and many lack sufficient qualified attendants to help evacuate residents with diminished mental capabilities.
