Not much progress has been made in the investigation more than one week after the mysterious explosion that rocked Grand-Bay. The police have been on the site everyday. Since no clues have been found yet, speculations are rife all over the country about the possible causes of the incident. The terrorist trail is definitely excluded but the accidental or criminal theory has still not been discarded.

Although the authorities have made it clear that the cause must have been accidental, the population is still worried. Memories of September 11th are still vivid in everyone’s minds and lead to all sorts of rumours.

Nevertheless, the probability that the blast in Grand-Bay Store (GBS) was a terrorist attack is nearly non- existent. Why would terrorists come to Mauritius and blast a place with so few people in it? Of course, the loss of two human lives and the 13 injured must not be minimised. But if terrorists strike, their attack would have targeted a large number of people. Moreover, responsibility is always claimed for such attacks and the trails left cannot be missed. So the investigators would have already found clues.

Hence, there seems to be no reason to panic as far as a terrorist trail is concerned. The possibility that the blast is not accidental but rather a criminal act can however not be put aside. Experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who arrived last week, have proceeded by elimination. They are looking for clues supporting the gas leak theory. They have asked for more information from the Scene of Crime Office and the Central Criminal Investigation Bureau about the gas installations at La Langouste Grisée, the restaurant on the first floor of Grand-Bay Store.

This trail has however been inconclusive. An engineer from Elf Maurigas confirmed that the huge gas bottle found on the site after the explosion was almost full. Besides, the explosion was too violent and the first floor caved in instead of exploding as it should as have done if it was a gas explosion. “Gas could not cause such damage. We are still looking for clues in the debris. Detonators could be at the origin of the tragic event.”

Moreover, local investigators have found marks that could have been caused by explosives. Nothing is certain yet but the investigation seems to have been reoriented compared to last week when the accident trail was the only one being followed-up.

The owner and two tenants of GBS gave their statements last week. Although the police expected that they would help to shed some light on the cause of the explosion, this was not finally the case. Benoit Ducray, owner of La Langouste Grisée, Pascal Tsin, owner of GBS and Ajay Beegoo, owner of a Ralph Lauren shop in the complex, were unanimous: they had not had any problems recently and do not see why they were the targets of criminals. Yet, the theory of sabotage or vendetta is still under study.

Hopes are now placed in the results of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) that should be available during the week. Toxicological results on samples taken from the bodies of Jean-François Lew Yee Teen and Emmy Ning Yeun, the young couple who were killed in the blast, could help to understand what happened.

While the whole population is still traumatised by this tragic Sunday, there were two bomb scares last Friday. The first in the morning at the IVTB building and the other around 7.30 pm at Shoprite in Trianon Shopping Park. The second was more dramatic as it was the last Friday of the month and the supermarket was really packed. Both are in extremely bad taste as they showed no regard for the families affected by the GBS tragedy and created panic at the busy supermarket.

<I>Hopes are now placed in the results of the Forensic Science Laboratory that should be available during the week. Toxicological results on samples taken from the bodies of the young couple could help to understand what happened.</I>