On Thursday night in Front Street stood the most photographed building in Mossman. By the weekend there was no evidence of its existence other than these images and the memories of those who visited it.

It took investigators little time at all to collect the information they needed from the scene which will help determine the cause of the fire that destroyed the Royal Hotel.

"There are a number of avenues of enquiry," said Detective Sergeant and Officer In Charge at Mossman CIB, Trevor Perham.

"You've got the fire scene which is the first place we look. We look at the forensic examination of the fire scene which can give us clues as to how or why the fire started, and the origins of it. That was done prior to the demolition on Friday.

"We will look into all aspects of the property; who's had anything to do with it, ownership, visitors."

Detective Sergeant Perham said forensic investigators looked for a number of tell tale signs of human interference.

"The physical examination of the remains of the building can give us a clue as to where the fire started. We can look for traces of fuel in the ashes and also fire patterns, where the fire burnt we can establish where it started."

He said there was a rush of information from the public in the hours after the fire.

"We've got to look at all of the information that comes from the public, some of which has substance and some doesn't.

"At this stage we don't know what caused the fire, we don't have any suspects. However, there was no electricity connected to the building, there were no electrical storms happening. I think we can rule out spontaneous combustion.

Mossman CIB is looking for further public asssistance to determine the cause of the blaze.

"We need to speak to people who observed any activities in or around the hotel just prior to the fire or in the 24 hours leading up to it.

"We had some suggestions there may have been somebody in or near the pub just prior to the fire being noticed. Also the condition of the doors, were they open or locked?"

If you can assist police in their investigations please call Mossman CIB on 4098 2177 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Thanks to Nigel Dey for providing this photo on The Newsport Facebook page.

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