Explosion victim ID’d; fire not criminal
A body found in the wreckage of a destroyed house Wednesday in Crescent heights has been positively identified, but police are not releasing any details out of respect for privacy of the victim’s family.
An autopsy conducted on the remains Thursday by the Medical Examiner has concluded there was no foul play involved, and the investi- gation will now be turned over to fire officials to determine the cause of the explosion and fire which resulted in the victim’s death.
“The examination (of the body) went fairly smooth. We were able to positively identify the person and we were able to label it as a non-criminal event,” confirmed S/Sgt. Trevor Humphries of the Major Crimes Section.
Humphries said police did not really have a good idea of who the victim was prior to the autopsy, due to the badly burned state of the remains.
“We weren’t exactly sure who the victim was. We had an idea but we weren’t very conclusive with it. It took that time through the medical examiner to be sure. We were able to establish the person was associated to the property. There is nothing criminal we are following up on,” Humphries stressed.
Medicine Hat deputy fire chief Lance Purcell said his investigators have determined the cause of the explosion was natural gas released within the destroyed home.
“We are not quite ready to state how that (natural gas explosion) occurred; suffice to say it was not a failure (of any system) or a supply issue,” said Purcell. “This is now being handed over to insurance and the owners fairly shortly. We are wrapping (the investigation) all up now.”
Purcell wanted to re-assure Hatters the gas explosion in this instance had nothing to do with the safety of the city’s supply or infrastructure.
“This wasn’t an issue of gas leaking into the house or a failure in the regulators or anything like that. People can rest assured the supply to their houses is safe,” he said.