Some of the victims of Christchurch's February 22 earthquake died of smoke inhalation or burns, a coronial inquest into their deaths was told today.
The inquest, being held this week in Christchurch before Waikato coroner Gordon Matenga, is looking into the deaths of 144 of the 181 victims 6.3-magnitude quake.
It resumed yesterday after being abandoned in June when the city was rattled by another violent aftershock.
Detective Inspector Paul Kench has told the inquest it was possible the death toll could rise by three or four as police may not have been notified about people listed as injured in the quake, who later died of their injuries.
The inquest is hearing evidence relating to the 88 victims from the Canterbury Television (CTV) building, the 18 killed in the PGC Building and the 41 people killed in other city and suburban locations.
Today the inquest heard evidence about the deaths of 64 language school students, from Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan, who were studying at the Kings Education language school housed in the CTV building.
Mr Kench read through the details of each death, including autopsy results which indicated all the victims suffered serious trauma to their bodies.
The cause of death for some was smoke inhalation, fire damage and incineration.
The hearing comes after an inquest into nine unidentified victims of the quake was completed in May.
The cause of the building collapses will be separately investigated by the Royal Commission of Inquiry.
