LONDON: Five people have died and four others are missing so far in an explosion at an apartment building in the English Channel and a fire in Jersey, according to police.

The investigation could take several weeks to complete, according to Jersey Police Chief Robin Smith, who said special teams were continuing a thorough search of the area in the island's capital, St Helier.

We are assuming that four residents are still missing, but there are still many of them, he said. "Their families were the first islanders to hear of the announcement. The special officer is still standing by their side.

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At around 4am on Saturday, an explosion rocked a three-storey apartment building in St Helier. Although this has not been confirmed, Smith claimed that a gas explosion "likely" started the fire.

According to Smith, the area received a call from the fire department the previous evening after locals reported smelling gas. If there are any safety concerns with natural gas lines, the police will look into them, he said.

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Authorities announced on Sunday that they no longer expected survivors and that the search had now become a "recovery operation".

Now that we are in the phase of recovery, let's take a moment to consider families," said Smith.

The largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey is a self-governing British dependency in the English Channel, off the coast of northern France.

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Island Energy, a gas supplier, said it is cooperating with the fire department "to understand exactly what happened."