THE government has provided updates on three recent major incidents: the sinking of the L’Ecume trawler, the Haut du Mont explosion and the Grands Vaux floods.
L’Ecume II
On Thursday 8 December, the L’Ecume II fishing trawler sank following a collision with Condor’s Commodore Goodwill freight ship off Jersey’s west coast.
Two bodies were recovered from the wreck and identified as crewmen Jervis Ramirez Baligat and Larry Simyunn from the Philippines, but the third person on board – skipper Michael ‘Mick’ Michieli – has not been found.
A maritime safety investigation was launched and is being progressed by the Maritime Standards department – part of Ports of Jersey – in conjunction with the Bahamas Maritime Authority (as the flag state of the Condor Commodore Goodwill) and the Philippines as an interested party.
The States police have also commenced an independent investigation – supported by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency – to establish any criminal culpability.
At yesterday’s briefing, senior civil servant Richard Corrigan confirmed that L’Ecume II would be raised from the seabed once specialist equipment had been secured.
‘That decision has been made on a balance of both evidential gain and for humanitarian reasons,’ he said, noting that a visual inspection of the vessel on land would help establish exactly what happened on the day of the incident.
‘We still have a missing member of the ship’s company, the skipper Mr Michael Michieli. There remains a possibility that his body is trapped onboard the vessel.’
He explained that, in terms of the ongoing investigations, being able to demonstrate that there were three crew on board – and that they all lost their lives – would ultimately help ‘in any decision to bring charges and what those charges look like in due course’.
‘Instruction will be given to Ports of Jersey to commission specialist contractors to do this. It is not something that is within our immediate capabilities within government or within Ports – we will need to bring a specialist vessel and crew into the Island to deliver this particular aspect of the operation.’
He estimated that it would take ‘around six weeks’ to secure the right crew and equipment to raise the vessel.
‘Once they are on site they then need a weather window of around five days to be able to do that – they need favourable or benign conditions to conduct the operation safely.’
The process will probably involve the deployment of a crane barge.
‘That will then be used to assemble a cradle around L’Ecume II to bring the vessel to the surface. That will need to be secured by a dive team, hence the weather and tides being a major factor in the eventual operation,’ Mr Corrigan added.
Haut du Mont
Two days after the sinking of L’Ecume II, the Island was struck by a second tragedy when a major explosion destroyed an apartment block at Haut du Mont.
Nine residents – 72-year-old Peter Bowler, Raymie Brown (71), Romeu and Louise De Almeida (67 and 64 years), Derek and Sylvia Ellis (61 and 73 years), Ken and Jane Ralph (72 and 71 years) and 63-year-old Billy Marsden – were killed, as well as a tenth Islander, Kathy McGinness (73), who lived in an adjacent block and was injured as a result of the explosion. She died in Corbière Ward at the General Hospital on Christmas Day.
A major crime inquiry led by Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey – called Operation Spire – and a cross-government recovery co-ordination group, chaired by States treasurer Richard Bell, was established in the wake of the incident.
The working assumption is that the fatal blast was caused by gas, because explosions of this ferocity normally are, but that has not yet been proven.
None of the properties were connected to gas for cooking or heating. Andium confirmed that there was a redundant Island Energy gas supply at the site – but all users had been removed from it.
Mr Bell said that of the 29 households that were displaced – and found immediate temporary accommodation – more than half had since moved into permanent homes.
‘Andium Homes actively works to identify properties for the remaining displaced residents,’ he added.
Customer and Local Services chief officer Ian Burns said that a specialist team was helping to co-ordinate the retrieval of personal items from the affected properties.
The team, comprising 30 ‘disaster recovery experts’, has so far spent more than 7,000 working hours on the site, sifting through more than 300 tonnes of rubble which has been moved to a secure location. Disaster recovery teams are expected to remain on site until mid-to-late April.
‘Particularly for bereaved families, every item being found around the explosion site is being carefully processed at a secure location and catalogued, as you would expect, to make sure there is a record of it for the investigation – but people are getting their personal items back,’ Mr Burns said.
Mr Bell added: ‘The site is expected to be handed back to government and Andium from the States of Jersey Police once the examination of the scene is completed – we are expecting that in weeks.’
However, he stressed that the handover did not mean activity on the site – such as the removal of rubble – would cease, with the cordon and road closure remaining in place ‘for months’.
‘Work has started in terms of thinking about the process for considering the future of the site, once we have got to the point of deciding which structures are safe.’
Grands Vaux
Almost 60 households were evacuated on 17 January when unmanageable rainfall caused severe flooding in several areas of Grands Vaux.
Housing provider Andium Homes has said that some of its worst-affected properties could require up to three months of repair work until they are habitable again.
One resident – Kerry Goguelin – launched a petition calling for the government to produce and publish a ‘flood response action plan’, while others sent an open letter to Jersey Water, Andium Homes and Assistant Environment Minister Hilary Jeune.
The letter asked for clarification on the immediate and long-term actions that would be taken to prevent future flooding in the area and prompted a written response from Deputy Jeune as well as Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet.
At yesterday’s briefing, Infrastructure chief officer Andy Scate said most of the department’s efforts had focused on the impact of the incident and future flood mitigation.
He confirmed that 18 households were still in alternative accommodation, including nine in hotels.
‘We are doing a lot of work around how we can slow down flood waters when they do hit the Island,’ he added, noting that improving drainage systems was among the infrastructure changes being considered.
‘The aim will be to get the Island to act more like a sponge – a sponge absorbs water and releases it slowly.
‘We are likely to see more flooding as we see the climate changing, both inland flooding but also coastal flooding.
‘The longer-term view is really about how we manage water in this catchment area – it is the biggest catchment area that the Island has.’
In a statement, the government said: ‘Infrastructure, Housing and Environment and Jersey Water are working together to assess upstream water management, and downstream capacity, along with a discussion over the role of the reservoir.
‘We are also looking at options to provide better flood protection to houses in the area, and how we can improve warnings of flood events.
‘This will include looking at a better warning system, how we measure live data in the catchment area, how water is managed higher up in the catchment and what flood defence measures can be deployed to better protect houses.’
