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The housing block destroyed in a blast that claimed the lives of at least five islanders was not connected to mains gas - but gas engineers had worked recently at the site, it has emerged.
Speaking to the media outside of Islands Energy Group's headquarters at La Collette yesterday afternoon, CEO Jo Cox said that there were no issues with the mains gas network and the area was safe.
Police Chief Robin Smith said at a press conference on Sunday that it was officers' "working assumption" that the explosion had been gas-related.
Ms Cox said yesterday, however, that it was not certain that gas caused the blast and, while an explosion of that magnitude was typically gas, that had not been determined.
“We want to join everyone in Jersey in sending our thoughts and prayers to the families who have lost families during this tragic time. Islands Energy continues to work with the emergency services during this recovery period," she said.
“I want to reassure people that we believe this is an isolated incident and not an issue with our gas network.
“We will work with the emergency services and the various channels to ensure we are providing the data needed to understand exactly what happened during this incident.”
Video: Islands Energy Group, Jo Cox, making a statement on Monday afternoon.
Asked if she thought IEG’s gas infrastructure had a role in the explosion, she replied: “No, I don’t. The buildings were not running on gas. There was a mains network running past it but [gas] was not being used for heating. There is no damage to the mains network.”
Asked where gas may have come from, she said: “It is really difficult for me to comment on that because we are running a very clear investigation at this time. I don’t want to make assumptions because I don’t want to make people think that something has happened when it hasn’t. Please let us run our investigations - we will get to the facts.
“The mains has not been affected. The mains is also turned off. We have assessed the area three days in a row and there is no gas detected at all. It is 100% safe. We need to run through the investigations to understand where the explosion initiated. There is an assumption that it may be gas - we don’t know that for a fact.”
Mrs Cox confirmed that IEG had been working at the site beforehand.
“There was work leading up to the event but, as I reassure you, there were no meters in the property. It was not run on heating, so we really need to understand clearly what could have caused it. It was recent work but they were disconnected meters.”
Mrs Cox also confirmed that IEG engineers were also called out on Friday night, when the Fire Service were contacted by residents after they smelled gas.
Pictured: IEG engineers were called out the night before the explosion after reports of a gas smell in the area, Ms Cox confirmed. (Jon Guegan)
“It is standard procedure that we get called by the Fire and Rescue Service - we attended on site with them. I am looking at all the recordings and exactly what happened at that time. Again, it is inappropriate for me to comment at this time.
“We received recordings into the call centre from Fire and Rescue reporting that it had been reported to us. We always attend - it is standard protocol if there is a gas escape reported that we always attend with Fire and Rescue.”
Asked if it was assumed that gas had caused the explosion, Mrs Cox said: “We don’t actually know that it was gas at this time. It is very typical for an explosion of this size that it is gas, but I want to bring us back to the fact that we don’t know that, and I don’t want to set hares running and people saying ‘therefore it is gas’.
“If you look at the statement [from the police], it said an explosion of this size is normally gas but we don’t know that for sure. Therefore, it is difficult for me to comment whether it was a spark, or what actually happened here.
“Let us do our forensic analysis. we are working really closely with all channels providing transparent data. We are running our own investigation and we will provide as much information to all the appropriate channels and we will get to the bottom of what happened here.”
Mrs Cox said that the engineer who attended Haut du Mont with the fire service on Friday evening still needed to be interviewed but that the standard protocol when a gas leak is suspected had been followed, although she could not yet confirm if the site had been declared safe at that time.
She said that she anticipated that there would be a clearer picture of what happened by Wednesday, although IEG would not be making a statement then.
Instead, further news would be coming though “the appropriate channels,” she said.
Meanwhile, Andium Homes has also confirmed that tenants at Haut du Mont were not gas consumers.
Pictured: Haut du Mont flats as they stood before the explosion. (Google Maps)
Chief Executive Ian Gallichan said: "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."
He said: "The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Andium Homes are with those who lost their lives during the devastating incident at Haut du Mont on Saturday morning, their families and loved ones. No words are adequate to reflect the complete devastation they must be feeling at this time.
"Throughout all of Saturday and Sunday, my colleagues at Andium Homes have been supporting the residents who were rendered homeless as a result of the incident.
"It is with significant pride that I can say that within just a few hours of the incident, we had been able to provide food, clothing and money to residents and each was offered alternative fully furnished accommodation.
"That support to residents continued throughout the weekend and again today. We are now working together with government to make sure that everyone is taken care of and that they have access to all the support that they need from the various specialist agencies going forwards."
Follow Express for updates and today's JEP for further in-depth coverage of the fall-out from last week's tragedies...
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