Three people have died and more are missing, authorities say, after an explosion and fire at a block of flats in Jersey.
“Around a dozen” residents are missing following a blast in St Helier, according to Robin Smith, the chief officer of the States of Jersey Police.
One person is still in hospital but not in a serious condition, while two people who were being treated earlier had been released, he said.
Fire crews were called last night after residents around the Haut du Mont flats reported smelling gas.
Video footage and photographs showed smoke billowing above the blaze in the early hours.
Mr Smith described the scene as devastating, warning there could be more fatalities.
He said: “We have a three-storey building that has completely collapsed - described from a demolition point of view as a pancake that has dropped almost straight down.”
Emergency services plan to continue their search-and-rescue operation at the scene in Pier Road all night.
Chief minister Kristina Moore updated the death toll to three, saying it was an “unimaginable tragedy”.
