An expert report in the civil aspect of the fatal explosion on rue de Trévise, in Paris in early 2019, calls into question the subsidence of the ground, but also the state of the gas pipeline itself, a new element.
In a report dated October 6, confirming information from the Parisian published on Wednesday, the commissioned expert concluded that there was a “sudden rupture due jointly to local subsidence of the ground and the propagation of cracks generated by corrosion craters”. For this expert from the University of Clermont-Ferrand, “this corrosion has developed in the soil since the date of burial in 1978”.
Was water infiltration the cause of the tragedy?
Based on a previous report according to which “this corrosion has developed in the ground since the date of burial in 1978”, this expert from the University of Clermont-Ferrand believes that “the tube has, in fact, suffered advanced corrosion which led to the generation of significant notches.”
According to this scenario, the disaster originated in early 2015 in a “water infiltration leading to the decompaction of the embankment in the part of the sidewalk located in front of the porch of 6, rue de Trévise”. At the same time, “repeated subsidence, and filling, of the gravel-concrete slab of the sidewalk” was noted.
This infiltration and decompaction precede, at an unknown period, a “start of cracking of the gas pipe, then (a) more or less rapid propagation of the crack” or “cracks”, according to this synthesis.
GRDF, responsible for the pipeline
On January 12, 2019 “around 7:30 a.m.”, the rupture of the pipe led to a “flow of gas towards the basement of 6 rue de Trévise”, from where the explosion would start an hour and a half later. This explosion caused four deaths, 66 injuries and hundreds of victims.
In a procedure lasting almost five years, these expert reports are crucial to determine responsibilities.
These new civil reports “point the finger at the pipeline, therefore (the responsibility of) GRDF”, the manager of the gas network subsidiary of Engie, summarizes Linda Zaourar, president of the Vret association (Victims and survivors of the explosion of rue de Trévise).
Five “mistakes were made”
A different situation from the criminal aspect, where a second opinion rendered at the end of June established that the pipe “broke under its own weight” after subsidence, itself caused by the infiltration.
For these experts, five “mistakes were committed”, in particular that of “not having initiated an investigation into the origin of the collapse of the sidewalk”. A responsibility of the town hall, indicted like the co-ownership trustee.
Linda Zaourar hopes that the new civil report “will be taken into account by the investigating judge” and that the victims will be able to know “what really happened”.