Inquests Open For Haut Du Mont Victims

The inquests open this morning (30 December) into the deaths of the victims of the Haut du Mont explosion.

Ten people died from the blast at the block of flats on Pier Road in St Helier.

The explosion, just before 4am on 10 December, claimed the lives of three couples, three men and, most recently, Kathy McGinness who died in hospital on Christmas Day.

She had lived in a flat adjoining the block that collapsed. 

All ten residents were in their sixties and seventies.

The inquests for Ken & Jane Ralph, Billy Marsden, Derek & Sylvia Ellis, Raymond (Raymie) Brown, Romeu and Louise Almeida, Peter Bowler and Kathleen (Kathy) McGinness will be opened by Deputy Viscount Advocate Mark Harris.

The hearings are expected to be brief, and are to allow the families to have their loved ones' funeral.

Proceedings are expected to be adjourned until the conclusion of the ongoing police investigation. 

Jersey Fire and Rescue Service and the gas company Island Energy are also conducting their own separate investigations into the cause of the explosion.

The blast destroyed a three-storey block of flats on Pier Road in St Helier.