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The NI Executive has announced a full investigation into NI Water’s response to the water crisis.

The board of NI Water will meet on Friday and then report to the Regional Revelopment Minister Conor Murphy.

Mr Murphy will bring the report to the Executive, setting out his proposals for a full investigation into the organisation’s response.

An emergency session of the Executive was held on Thursday to discuss the problems affecting the water supply.

After the meeting First Minister Peter Robinson called NI Water’s response to the situation “shambolic”.

More than 6,000 homes remain without running water and NI Water is rotating supply to some 60,000 customers.

Mr Robinson said NI Water’s response was “shambolic” and “ineffective”.

He said he did not think anyone could suggest that the organisation had “covered themselves in glory”.

“People must assess their own position and of course if people don’t assess their own position the (Executive’s) review will look at where responsibility lies and decisions will be taken on the foot of that,” he added.

He went on to criticise the response of NI Water to the issue of water shortages.

Mr Robinson said: “It isn’t simply a case of under-performing, we believe it has been shambolic at stages, it has been ineffective. It has not been the kind of organisation that is fit for purpose.

“If there has been a consistent feature from every minister, it has been their abhorrence at the treatment of customers by NI Water.”

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said NI Water’s performance had been “totally unacceptable behaviour by an arms-length body”.

He said it was “disturbing” that people at a senior level at the organisation had not anticipated the scale of the difficulties presented by the recent thaw in temperatures.

“We are not prepared to accept this treatment on behalf of citizens. Arms-length bodies need to be held to account,” he said.

“Under no circumstances are we going to stand here and make excuses for a body that has failed so miserably.”

He said it was a “key priority” that schools and businesses would be able to resume after the Christmas period.

Regional Development minister Conor Murphy said the board of NI Water was meeting on Friday and he was seeking an assurance that it would take “immediate steps” to ensure a similar situation was not repeated this winter.

Earlier, NI Water warned it could be next week before all homes and businesses are reconnected.

It said the numbers of those on a curtailed supply will vary from between 3,500 to 60,000 at any given time.

Those people on curtailed supply will generally find their supplies will be off for between six to eight hours.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the company said: “NI Water will continue to rotate supplies so figures will increase and decrease as this process is continued in order to protect reservoir levels.

“The figures for those without water will continue to decrease as bursts are repaired.”

South Tyrone Hospital, Dungannon, and Lagan Valley Hospital, Lisburn, have been affected by the water supply crisis.

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has warned there could be major changes in how the NI water supply is financed.

Owen Paterson said Northern Ireland’s infrastructure had suffered over the years and that changes were now needed.

“What will be looked at here is the difference in the way that water is paid for in the rest of the UK and the way it is paid for in Northern Ireland, where it is just an element of the rates,” he said.

“I think what is clear is that the events of the last week or so will bring this to a head. It is a major issue that has to be resolved.”

Meanwhile South Tyrone Hospital has been relying on the NI Fire Service and bottled water. Lagan Valley Hospital was without water for a number of “hours”.

Eighty villages and towns have been affected as pipes burst in the thaw.

Around 18,000 customers are still affected in the Belfast area, 5,000 in the eastern part of Northern Ireland and 8,000-9,000 in the western area.

Trevor Haslett, director of engineering at NI Water, said the situation in urban areas was improving and should be better by Friday afternoon.

However, he added: “It could be early next week before everybody is on supply.”

Mr Haslett said over a period of 12 hours the company suffered more burst service pipes than he could remember for 35 years.

The company has invested £150m in water mains over the past three years, replacing 1% of the system but in other parts of the UK almost double the amount of infrastructure had been replaced, he said.

“If NIW received more money for water mains we could increase the rate of renewal,” Mr Haslett said.

The company has admitted that substantially more people have been affected over the period of the shortages.

It said much of the extra 250m litres it has released into the system has already leaked out – some of it through its own own distribution system, but most because of damaged pipes on private property.

The Stormont Executive is currently discussing what further measures can be taken.

One man queuing for water in east Belfast said his water service has been interrupted since just after Christmas.

“It is just terrible, having to queue for water. It just should not happen,” he told the Associated Press.

NI Water, a state-owned company, which is the sole provider of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland, said an unprecedented number of leaks caused by the thaw following the long period of freezing weather had been putting “big pressure” on its systems.

The thaw followed the worst snow in Northern Ireland in 25 years and record cold temperatures.

As temperatures rose, burst pipes drained reservoirs, forcing NI Water to turn off the tap to the 80 locations.

Some people have been without water for 12 days.

The Stormont Executive has accepted help from Scotland and sent civil service staff to help out at NI Water’s call centre.

Local councils are working to supply water and offer free showers to people without a mains supply and information is being provided on the NI Water website.

In a statement, the Utility regulator said the priority for the rest of this week was to let NI Water manage and restore supplies as a matter of urgency.

“We have asked for a meeting with NI Water early next week to discuss the company’s performance,” a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, North Down Alliance Councillor Andrew Muir has called on NI Water to halt its plan to sell reservoirs across Northern Ireland, including six in Craigantlet Hills between Bangor and Belfast and one in Groomsport at Portavoe.

He said that, in light of recent events, NI Water must scrap these sale plans.

More information on the water shortage is available from the NI Water website, or telephone hot line on 08457 440088, on Ceefax page 169 and BBC News Online.

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Two people died and another two were seriously injured in a crash in Rowde near Devizes.

Wiltshire Police said the incident, involving one vehicle, happened on the A342 near to the entrance of Rowdeford School.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, which happened just before 0130 GMT.

One of the passengers has been taken to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon with life-threatening injuries.

Another passenger is in a serious condition at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Police said the A342 at Rowde is likely to remain closed until the mid-morning.

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Police in Wales say 10 registered sex offenders, two of whom are considered “high risk”, are missing or unaccounted for.

The figures were disclosed to BBC Wales after a Freedom of Information request to the four police forces in Wales.

Seven offenders are missing in the South Wales Police force area and three in North Wales Police’s jurisdiction.

The forces stressed the figures were only valid for the date the question was considered.

Registered sex offenders are required to inform police and probation officers of their address.

Of the seven missing in the South Wales force area (as of 15 November), two were considered high risk, four medium risk and one low risk.

One of the offenders has been missing for more than 10 years.

The force would not give details of the offences that had been committed by those missing.

Det Ch Insp Jane Mackay, of the public protection department of South Wales Police, said: “Registered sex offenders are managed very closely, which is evidenced by the low number of those in South Wales who have failed to comply with their conditions.

“On the rare occasions that these offenders fail to co-operate, the force takes a very robust stance in tracking them down.

“All cases are investigated thoroughly and are reviewed and monitored on a regular basis by senior investigating officers to ensure all lines of inquiry are pursued. This includes liaising with police services in other countries and Interpol.

“When these offenders are located we ensure that they are returned to the UK to face the consequences of their breach of licence, applications for extradition are therefore common practice.”

Three registered sex offenders were missing in the North Wales Police area (as of 22 November), two of whom were considered medium risk and one low risk.

The offenders have been missing for a time period of between one month and five years.

The force would not give details of the offences that had been committed.

North Wales Police said it took a “pro-active approach in locating the very low number of RSOs (registered sex offenders) who fail to comply with their conditions”.

“Monitoring officers conduct regular checks on any outstanding RSOs to ensure that any new information is acted on swiftly and shared with other law enforcement agencies,” the force said.

“Additionally, probation officers are co-located with North Wales Police staff to ensure partnership working between agencies is streamlined, structured and cohesive.”

All the forces said the figures were only valid for the date the question was considered because numbers would change as new information came to light.

Dyfed-Powys Police said no offenders were unaccounted for (as of 1 December), but two offenders had left the UK without giving notification.

Gwent Police said no offenders were missing (as of 15 November) although there had previously been a single case in 2010.

A spokesperson for the Victim Support charity said: “Victims and other members of the public need to feel safe and secure in their communities, and victims need to be reassured that they are not at risk of re-victimisation by seeing their offender on the streets they live in.

“These should be the most important considerations.”

Mark Williams-Thomas, criminologist and former police detective, said: “It is clearly a concern that 10 registered sex offenders are unaccounted for in Wales, especially given that two are high risk.

“Knowing how sex offenders operate it may well be that they are currently in contact with children or vulnerable people, and therefore I would urge the police to release the details of the 10 offenders, in order that they can be located and any risk eliminated.”

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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is visiting communities suffering from unusually severe flooding in the eastern state of Queensland.

She flew into Bundaberg, where the flooding has already peaked, before heading to Rockhampton, where waters are expected to rise.

The floods have affected about 200,000 people over an area bigger than France and Germany combined, according to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

Some 4,000 people have been displaced.

The weather was reported to be drier on Friday, though water levels in some areas are still rising.

“This is without a doubt a tragedy on an unprecedented scale,” Ms Bligh told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We now have 22 towns or cities that are either substantially flooded or isolated because the roads have been cut off to them.”

Ms Gillard’s first stop was in Bundaberg, which has seen its worst flooding for four decades and has been split in two by the swollen Burnett River. Waters there are now receding.

“It’s good news that it’s going down quicker than anticipated,” she said.

She is also hoping to visit Emerald, a town of about 11,000 residents in central Queensland where waters have reached about 16m (52ft) and more than 1,200 people have been evacuated.

Helicopters including Army Black Hawks have been ferrying residents to safer locations.

Two smaller towns, Theodore and Condamine, have been completely evacuated. In Condamine some residents had been refusing to leave their houses.

Further north, Rockhampton is bracing for rising water that officials say could cut the city off by the weekend.

Recovery work following the floods is expected to cost billions of dollars.

Officials have warned of severe damage to homes, crops and livestock.

Ms Bligh said on Friday that the crisis was “a long way from over”, and that some areas could remain flooded for 10 days.

”What we have never seen is so many towns, so many communities and so many regions all affected at once,” she said.

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