Jersey’s entire gas system has been put under investigation, it has emerged, as police released names of some of the nine people believed dead after a mystery explosion in the island’s capital.
The network became the focus of a safety probe after it was revealed the apartments flattened by a 4am blast on Saturday had not been connected to the island’s gas supply.
The fire service had been called out on Friday night, eight hours before the blast, over a suspected gas leak in St Helier, but the local supplier and the owner of the development said they could not explain how gas may have caused the subsequent tragedy.
Seven of the nine believed to be dead were named on Monday. Only five of the bodies recorded from the scene have been identified. The police did not disclose which of the seven named had been confirmed dead.
Those named included two couples – Romeu and Louise De Almeida, 67 and 64, and Derek and Sylvia Ellis, 61 and 73 – as well as Peter Bowler, 72, Raymond Brown, 71, and Billy Marsden, 63.
A police statement added: “The identities of the other islanders will be released at a later date.”
Jo Cox, chief officer at Island Energy, said the flats affected were not connected to its network. “Island Energy continues to work alongside the emergency services as they continue their recovery operation,” she said.
“The company will conduct its own investigation into what happened, as well as helping the various official inquiries. Our engineers are safety-testing the island’s gas network, and this will be completed in the next few days. No issues have been detected in the survey so far.”
A spokesperson for Andium Homes, the housing association that owns the 36 apartments that make up the Haut du Mont development where the explosion occurred, said they were unaware of any recent gas leaks in the area: “To confirm what Island Energy have already said, Andium Homes and our tenants are not consumers of gas at Haut du Mont.
“We have received no reports of leaks or smells of gas the day before the incident or at any other time. Andium Homes has not been carrying out any significant maintenance works at Haut du Mont.”
Jersey’s chief minister, Kristina Moore, in a speech to the states assembly, the island’s representative body, said the police investigation would be rigorous and independent.
She said: “The devastating explosion at Haut du Mont has shocked everyone in the island and around the world. I’m sure members [of the assembly] will have seen the footage, which makes for painful viewing, and is unprecedented for Jersey in modern times.
“Put simply, most of us will have never seen anything like it. Alongside the ongoing recovery operation, a police investigation into the events that led to the explosion is under way. Again, that investigation will be independent at every stage, and will provide the facts of what happened for the families and loved ones of everyone involved.”
On Sunday, the island’s police chief, Robin Smith, had not ruled out a criminal investigation.
Local people started to return to their homes on Monday, with the cordon gradually being reduced. Several surrounding buildings had been damaged by the blast, with windows smashed and debris across their doorsteps.
Andy Rawlinson, 54, said he had been woken by an “almighty bang” in the early hours of Saturday morning, the memory of which has left him “traumatised” upon his return home.
He added: “It’s scary, it’s traumatic as well. It’s horrible being a few hundred yards away from where people are dying and there’s not a thing you can do. People have lost their lives so close to Christmas, it’s so, so sad. I’ve never seen anything like that here. It’s devastating.”
Jersey’s fire chief, Paul Brown, had earlier said it could take weeks to identify and recover all of the remains from the tragedy, with specialist teams from the UK flying over to lend support. Photographs released by Jersey’s government showed piles of rubble, crushed cars, and blown-out windows in neighbouring homes.
