Lack of evacuation before fatal blast 'confusing'

A teenager who called emergency services to report a strong smell of gas at a block of flats that later exploded, killing 10 people, said he remained confused "to this day" as to why no-one was evacuated.

Pedro De Freitas, who was 14 at the time, was walking past Haut du Mont with his two friends on 9 December 2022, the night before the explosion, and reported the area "stank of gas".

Jersey's Royal Court heard he called emergency services at about 20:35 GMT and waited for the fire service to arrive.

Gas workers Neil Armstrong, John Wright and Lee Ward deny 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter. Island Energy has pleaded not guilty in a combined health and safety case.

The States Employment Board has pleaded guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety law relating to the explosion on behalf of the fire service and the control room and is due be sentenced at a later date.

Earlier in the trial the jury was told Louisa De Almeida, 64, who lived at 28 Haut du Mont, called emergency services at 20:43 to also report a "really strong" smell of gas.

She was one of the residents who died as a result of the explosion, the others were Peter Bowler, 72, Billy Marsden, 62, Derek Ellis, 61, Sylvia Ellis, 73, Ken Ralph, 72, Jane Ralph, 71, Romeu De Almeida, 67, Raymond Brown, 71, and Kathy McGinness, 73.

The court was played the audio recording of De Freitas' call to emergency services - in which you could hear him coughing a lot towards the end of the call because of the strong smell of gas.

De Freitas said once the fire service arrived, crew commander John Lloyd told him, "don't worry, we'll take care of it, just stay away from the gas so it doesn't intoxicate you".

The now 18-year-old said he and his two friends then left the area and watched the fire service from the road above for about 30 minutes.

He said the firefighters "went into the estates, looked around, gathered together, then they left".

De Freitas said: "I was quite surprised - I would've assumed they would've knocked on people's doors to get them out.

"That's what confuses me to this day."

Lloyd said he attended the report with his crew of five at 20:45 and that on the way there they were told of a further call from flat 28 reporting gas outside - not inside as told by resident De Almeida.

The crew commander said he remembered exiting the fire engine and smelling gas.

"Strength wise, I can't identify how strong it was," he said.

Lloyd said he told the teenagers they "did the right thing" in calling the emergency services and let them leave.

He then told the court he sent one fire officer to Commercial Buildings, where the excavation site was, to assess if there was a smell of gas or any issues there as it "might have emanated from that area".

He also sent two fire officers along Pier Road with gas detection devices to see if they could detect gas.

The court was told earlier in the trial that the gas devices used by the fire service did not have the correct accessories attached to detect propane/LPG gas.

Lloyd said he also spoke to Haut du Mont residents who were on their balconies who told him there were no gas appliances in the buildings and that the flat blocks did not use gas.

When asked why the crew did not carry out further inquiries about flat 28 where a 999 call had been received from, Lloyd said there was "no cause to as I believed there was no gas within the properties and the smell of gas came [from] outside".

The fire crew left Haut du Mont at 20:51 - spending a total of six minutes at Haut du Mont, before heading to the excavation site on the road below at Commercial Buildings.

The court heard Lloyd then spoke to Island Energy worker Leigh Hunt, who had been sent by the company to the report of the smell of gas.

Lloyd said Hunt told him he would make a routine drive over Haut du Mont to Pier Road and carry out some checks.

Hunt had been employed by Island Energy as a gas service engineer for about five years at the time of the explosion and was the duty engineer on call the evening before the explosion.

He told the court he met the firefighters at the excavation site at 20:59 and believed he was on Pier Road - even though he was actually at Commercial Buildings.

On his way, he called Armstrong as he knew he and his team had been working in the area earlier that day.

"I went to find the fire brigade to see what was going on... because they were on site," he said.

Hunt said Armstrong came down to the site whilst he was carrying out checks on the excavation and nearby drains using a gascoseeker - a gas detection device - and detected nothing.

He said Armstrong left at 21:15 and he left at 21:25 to go to another job.

The trial continues.

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