The São Paulo state utilities regulator said it will carry out a rigorous, independent and transparent investigation into the roles of Sabesp and Comgás after a gas pipeline explosion at a Sabesp worksite in Jaguaré killed one person, injured three others and destroyed 46 properties.

Arsesp said its technical teams were already at the site inspecting the work of the concessionaires responsible for regulated services and beginning to determine what caused the blast. The explosion happened in the afternoon of Monday, November 11, around 4:10 p.m. according to the Fire Department, after residents had recorded Sabesp workers at the location minutes earlier.

The agency said it will request from the companies all documents and operational records tied to the services performed at the site, along with specific information about maintenance carried out at the address that Monday. If failures, rule violations or responsibility by a supervised company are found, Arsesp said it will apply the appropriate regulatory and sanctioning measures.

Representatives of Sabesp and Comgás said at a news conference that the two companies were working together at the site where the gas pipeline rupture occurred. They also announced emergency payments of R$ 2,000 for each affected family.

Residents have added another layer to the inquiry. In one video, workers from Sabesp can be seen at the site minutes before the explosion. In another, bubbles form where the workers had been operating. According to residents, a Comgás employee also passed by the area around 3 p.m., about an hour before the blast.

The Jaguaré explosion, in the West Zone of São Paulo, has put both the utility work and the gas network under scrutiny. Arsesp, the state public services regulator under the Tarcísio de Freitas administration, said it is moving from emergency response to accountability. Its next step is to match the crews seen on video, the maintenance records and the physical evidence at the site with the timeline that ended in an afternoon blast, one death and a neighborhood left in ruins.