An explosion that levelled a block of flats in Jersey has killed seven people, police say.

Five people were initially known to have died in the blast on Saturday, with detectives now confirming two more deaths.

A further two people are still missing.

“The families have been made aware of this announcement and are being supported by specially trained family liaison officers,” said Jersey Police chief Robin Smith.

“The fatalities have not yet been formally identified. The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process must be carefully considered and managed in a dignified and compassionate way.

“Therefore, we are not yet able to confirm if the fatalities that have been found at the site correspond to the seven identities released by the missing islanders families yesterday afternoon.”

He added that his thoughts continue to be with the victims and the families affected by the “tragic incident”.

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Earlier this week, officials named seven missing people as Peter Bowler, 72, Raymond Brown, 71, Romeu and Louise De Almeida, 67 and 64, Derek and Sylvia Ellis, 61 and 73, and Billy Marsden, 63.

Emergency services have been conducting searches of the blast site in St Helier since Saturday, and confirmed on Monday that they are no longer looking for survivors.

Police added that the search for bodies “will take weeks, not days” and described the scene on Pier Road as one of “utter devastation”.

While the cause of the explosion is still not known, the fire service was called to the building hours before the incident after residents reported smelling gas.

When asked what could cause such a “ferocious” explosion, Paul Brown, the chief fire officer, previously said there were “many different potential causes”, and it was too early to speculate.

Me Smith said that the “likely” cause was a gas leak – but Jo Cox, chief officer at Island Energy, said the flats affected were not connected to the gas network.

Following the blast, around 40 people have been placed in alternative accommodation.

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