I arrived at the scene of the explosion approximately ten minutes after the blast had viciously disemboweled the building formerly known as Grand Bay Store (GBS). I saw a lifeless body prostrated amidst the rubble. I saw three of the injured sitting, bleeding and shocked, in the apocalyptic setting that was once Grand-Bay's main thoroughfare. I saw all this and thought to myself: this is what it must feel like to live in Tel Aviv or Bogota.

The Israeli and Colombian capitals have a very distinct advantage over Mauritius in that they have effective and efficient rescue teams. The reaction of local forces was risible. The police were the first to arrive (Grand-Bay police station is less than 100 metres away) yet provided little help. Victims were rescued by courageous members of the community, not by the police. The tardiness of the fire brigade and ambulance services was overshadowed only by their lack of experience in dealing with such a disaster.

One has to be grateful for life’s small mercies. If the blast had occurred in the early afternoon or evening instead of early morning, the death toll would have been unprecedented for the nation. That kind of infamy changes a country’s identity forever. I doubt though that it offers much solace to Emmy’s and Jean-François’ parents and, until the truth is dragged out from under the debris, to the Mauritian community as a whole.

It is facile indeed to indulge in the alarmism that pervaded Grand-Bay town centre on Sunday morning. The terrorist theory is one that was favored by a large portion of the crowd that congregated in front of the emaciated building. Who can blame them? Since 11 September, terrorist attacks have been given a place of choice in the agendas of the media and governments the world over. The spectre of being a victim of a terrorist attack has been embedded in the global consciousness.

The development of GBS over the past decade, from tiny “tabagie”-type shop to supermarket and eventually shopping centre, is a fitting illustration of the development of Grand-Bay itself. What was a sleepy village has, over the span of a few years, mushroomed into a cosmopolitan town where hedonism and pleasure have been given free reign. The parallels with resorts, such as Bali in Indonesia and Haifa in Israel, are undeniable.

Despite government assurances that the explosion was accidental, speculations were running amok like microbes in a petri dish. Rumours, containing whispered words like vendetta, criminals and terrorism, were rife. Many people were sceptical about the possibility that the explosion, which was heard as far afield as Pointe-aux-Canonniers, originated from a gas leak.