Fire service alerted to suspected gas leak hours before fatal blast
JERSEY fire service was alerted to a suspected gas leak in a block of flats more than seven hours before an explosion that killed five people.
The three-storey Haut du Mont block in St Helier was destroyed at about 4am on Saturday in a blast so violent it was picked up on the British Geological Survey’s earthquake monitors.
Fire chiefs said officers had been called to the block at 8.26pm on Friday to investigate the smell of gas.
Paul Brown, the chief fire officer of Jersey, told a press conference yesterday: “Something clearly has gone wrong as a building has exploded and collapsed.”
He pledged “honesty” and “transparency” when asked whether Jersey’s fire service would be involved in the inquiry into the cause of the explosion.
States of Jersey Police updated the death toll to five last night as the rescue operation continued to find missing people.
The force said four more people were likely to be recovered from the wreckage of the residential block.
Mr Smith told a press conference earlier yesterday the search had moved to a
“recovery stage”, which is likely to take “weeks”.
Chief Minister Kristina Moore told reporters that the wider community of Jersey has been “immensely shocked and saddened” by the incident and the government had been “overwhelmed” by their “offers of support”. Specialist teams from other parts of the UK, including the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, have been drafted in to aid the response.
Andium Homes, a state-owned but independent company which rents out properties on the island, said it was focusing on supporting residents at the estate. Island Energy, a gas supplier, said it was working with the fire service to “understand exactly what has happened”.
A candelit vigil was held for those affected by the tragedy at the nearby Parish Church of St Helier on Saturday night, and a note had been left on a noticeboard reading “give strength to those families who’ve been lost this week”.
Associate Rector James Porter said the incident had had a “profound” impact on the community, particularly because it came days after three fishermen went missing at sea off the west coast of Jersey after their boat collided with a freight ship.