WATCH: Gas engineers conduct safety tests after flat blast kills at least five

Monday 12 December 2022

Engineers are safety testing Jersey’s gas network after an explosion at a block of flats at Pier Road claimed at least five lives.

The blast in the early hours of Saturday morning led to a full collapse of a building on the Andium-run Haut du Mont estate and four people remain unaccounted for.

Police Chief Robin Smith said yesterday that the "likely" cause was a gas leak, but that investigations remained ongoing.

He said that Islands Energy Group, Andium Homes and the Health and Safety Inspectorate were all involved.

In a statement issued around 14:30 this afternoon, Islands Energy Group CEO Jo Cox said that the company was conducting its own internal investigation and that it was also currently safety testing the island's gas supply.

"Along with my colleagues at Island Energy, I join everyone in Jersey in offering our prayers and thoughts to families who have lost loved ones at this tragic time," Ms Cox said.

"Island Energy continues to work alongside the emergency services as they continue their recovery operation. The company will conduct its own investigation into what happened, as well as helping the various official enquiries."

Video: Islands Energy Group CEO Jo Cox addresses a group of reporters at La Collette.

She continued: "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.

"As is always the case if anyone smells gas, Island Energy has a dedicated emergency number which you should call immediately 755555."

Follow Express for updates and tomorrow's JEP for further in-depth coverage of the fall-out from last week's tragedies...