A search and recovery operation enters its third day after a huge explosion in Jersey.
Emergency services and specialist teams are continuing a search and recovery operation after a huge explosion at a block of flats in Jersey.
Jersey Police said at least five people were known to have died, with at least four still missing. They warned they do not expect to find survivors.
The explosion happened at the three-storey Haut du Mont residential block on Saturday at about 04:00 GMT.
The recovery may take weeks to complete, authorities said.
It is understood there were nine known residents in the block but details on visitors remain unknown.
A minute’s silence will be held at 11:00 on Monday and the Government of Jersey said flags would be flown at half-mast until sunset on Friday.
Commercial Buildings and Mount Bingham have reopened but other roads in the area remain closed.
Chief of Police Robin Smith said there had been a “meticulous and painstaking search of the debris following the explosion, to start carefully identifying bodies when and if we find them”.
He told a press conference on Sunday: “That will take time. We are not going to be here for days, we are likely to be here for weeks.”
The fire service had attended the flats just after 20:30 on Friday after the smell of gas was reported, it has been confirmed.
None of the emergency leaders could confirm the cause, but Mr Smith said it “looks likely” it was down to a gas explosion.
Jersey chief fire officer Paul Brown acknowledged that something had gone “horribly wrong” at the block of flats.
He confirmed firefighters had been called to the building after residents reported smelling gas.
Mr Brown said the fire service would be “co-operating fully” with “honesty and transparency” with a future inquiry, but added that the main focus remained on the search operation at this time.
Police said “around 40” people had been displaced because of the blast and the damage it had caused to nearby buildings.
An appeal has been set up to provide support for those affected by both the explosion and a maritime collision off the Jersey coast on Thursday in which three fishermen went missing.
Chief Minister Kristina Moore said islanders were “immensely shocked and saddened” by the two tragedies.
Specialist teams from other parts of the UK, including the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, have been drafted in to aid the response to the explosion.
Mr Brown said mutual aid would support the numbers of firefighters on the island to ensure a “rolling pattern of deployment” at the scene.
Mr Smith said the response to the tragedy was “as big as it gets”.
“We all practice for these things and hope they never happen,” the police chief said.
Image source, MB Infocus/Google
Andium Homes, a state-owned but independent company which rents out thousands of properties on the island, said it was focused on supporting residents at the estate.
Gas supplier Island Energy said it was working with the fire service to “understand exactly what has happened”.
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