An eighth victim of a suspected gas explosion at apartments in Jersey has been confirmed dead, the island’s police have said, with the body of one missing person still to be recovered.
A delicate recovery operation that will also seek to uncover the cause of the deadly blast at the Haut du Mont flats in St Helier, Jersey’s capital, was continuing, the Jersey police chief, Robin Smith, said.
“The number of islanders confirmed to have died in the blast is now eight,” he said.
“We estimate that there is still one resident that is unaccounted for. As has been our process throughout, the families have been made aware of this announcement before the public and media and are being supported by our specially trained family liaison officers.
“The fatalities have not yet been formally identified. The disaster victim identification (DVI) process must be carefully considered and managed in a dignified and compassionate way.”
A three-storey block of apartments overlooking the port of St Helier exploded in a fireball at 4am on Saturday, leaving nine people missing.
The previous evening, the island’s fire service had been called at 8.36pm to a suspected gas leak. Officers at the scene had handed over the case to Island Energy, the island’s supplier of energy, about 30 minutes later.
The apartments themselves were not connected to the gas network but the energy company is facing questions over what action its staff took in the seven hours between notice of the suspected gas leak and the explosion.
The nine people, including three couples, believed to have been killed in the explosion have been named as Ken and Jane Ralph, 72 and 71, Romeu and Louise De Almeida, 67 and 64, Derek and Sylvia Ellis, 61 and 73, Peter Bowler, 72, Raymond Brown, 71, and Billy Marsden, 63.
In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the island’s gas company said: “We can confirm that an Island Energy engineer did attend the site on Friday night along with the Jersey fire service.
“We are currently working with the fire service and other relevant parties to investigate exactly what further steps were taken and so we cannot comment further at this time.”
