The Irish Mail on Sunday

Tears drown the homes of Donegal

Devastated community faces enormity of three children and seven adults wiped out in explosion at petrol service station

- By Valerie Hanley IN CREESLOUGH Valerie.hanley@mailonsund­ay.ie

NOT even a whisper could be heard on Creeslough’s main street after the explosion ripped through the heart of the picturesqu­e Donegal village’s petrol station.

But the eerie silence in the aftermath of the blast was pierced when the last body of the three children and seven adults who lost their lives in the tragic accident was removed from the wreckage of the site shortly after 1pm yesterday.

And then the only sound that could be heard was that of a heartbroke­n mother, wounded to the core.

Her voice was not a cry. It was not a roar.

It was the scream of a woman who has lost everything that mattered in life: her beloved child.

And even though dozens of people gathered together as the emergency services escorted the remains of the 14-year-old girl to a waiting ambulance, there were no words.

Only the loud wails from a loving mother who could never have realised when she waved her teenage daughter off to school on Friday morning that it would be the last time she would ever again see her alive.

The girl’s remains were found next to the ice cream fridge where she stood when a blast ripped through the Apple Green garage and shop at 3.20pm on Friday.

The girl and a friend had gone into the shop minutes earlier to get an ice cream before heading to her pal’s house for a planned sleepover.

But minutes after the pair skipped in together without a care in the world only one of them made it out alive.

She was found amid rubble at the doorway and this weekend, much to the relief of her family, is recovering after doctors treated her for a broken leg.

A friend of the two girls’ families told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The two girls went into the shop to get an ice cream.

‘They were going to have a sleepover. One of the girls was found at the door of the shop in rubble and one of her legs was broken.

‘Her pal was found at the ice cream fridge where she had gone to get an ice cream before going to her pal’s house for a sleep-over.’

Whatever happened between the time the two girls stepped into the village shop and garage to pick out their favourite ice creams has left 10 people dead.

And the Garda technical team will be combing through the wreckage of the garage over the next few days to establish what exactly unfolded.

But whatever the investigat­ion finds, the village of Cresslough will never be the same again.

As he visibly struggled to carry the woes of his heartbroke­n community on his broad shoulders, parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy said, ‘The community is trying to respond the best they can and I would ask for the prayers of people to carry us through this awful tragedy’.

Fr Duffy added: ‘We have been contacted by people from all over

‘The scream of a woman who has lost everything’

the country and the world with prayers. Our hearts are broken… some of those involved in the search and rescue were looking for people they know. ‘We are all at a loss. We pray God can carry us through this.’

Fr Duffy was one of a number of clerics who attended the scene since details of the accident began to emerge on Friday afternoon.

As members of the emergency services used listening devices, specialist dogs and cameras to help them find survivors and those who lost their lives, clerics of all denominati­ons kept a dusk-till-dawn vigil until all the bodies were recovered.

Local Garda superinten­dent David

Kelly paid tribute to all those who played a part in rescuing eight survivors and helping to retrieve the bodies of the 10 people who lost their lives.

At a media briefing held outside Milford Garda station yesterday afternoon, Supt Kelly, initially hesitated slightly before delivering his briefing.

‘Excuse me if I get emotional,’ he said to those gathered, before recalling how he drove past the scene of the tragedy on his way to a meeting on Friday.

‘Yesterday afternoon I went to a meeting in Falcarragh and was driving by the location where this happened,’ he explained.

‘Little did I think I’d be standing before you here today.

‘It’s a tragedy for the community – there are families left devastated.’

Paying tribute to all members of the emergency services from Donegal and the North who helped, the community and to his own officers – many of whom worked throughout the past two days even though they were off duty – Supt Kelly added, ‘That is what it is to be in Donegal. We look out for each other’.

Just over 400 people live in Creeslough, tucked into a beautiful valley with Sheephaven bay on one side, Ards Forest on the other, overlooked by the majestic Muckish Mountain.

Until this weekend the little village’s most famous daughter was singer Bridie Gallagher. Her bestknow song was The Homes Of Donegal. Its closing lyrics have a particular poignancy as the devastated families prepare to bury their loved ones.

‘The time has come for me to go and bid you all adieu ‘For the open highway calls me back to do these things I do ‘But when I’m travelling far away Your friendship I’ll recall ‘And please God I’ll soon return unto the homes of Donegal.’

 ?? ?? Fire officers and a JCB sift through the wreckage of an apartment beside the garage shop yesterday which was reduced to rubble by the explosion 1
An aerial photograph taken on Friday shows the scale of the devastatio­n and the rescue effort at the service station and apartment complex where three children and seven adults tragically lost their lives
Fire officers and a JCB sift through the wreckage of an apartment beside the garage shop yesterday which was reduced to rubble by the explosion 1 An aerial photograph taken on Friday shows the scale of the devastatio­n and the rescue effort at the service station and apartment complex where three children and seven adults tragically lost their lives
 ?? ?? A fire officer walks away from the scene of carnage as ambulance workers survey the scene and a tractor helps to clear the debris
A fire officer walks away from the scene of carnage as ambulance workers survey the scene and a tractor helps to clear the debris
 ?? ?? Two emergency workers on a cherry picker survey the remains of the collapsed roof and solar panels on the building directly behind the Applegreen service station forecourt yesterday afternoon
Two emergency workers on a cherry picker survey the remains of the collapsed roof and solar panels on the building directly behind the Applegreen service station forecourt yesterday afternoon
 ?? ?? The interior of a section of the building directly behind the forecourt was completely gutted following the blast at the Applegreen complex
The interior of a section of the building directly behind the forecourt was completely gutted following the blast at the Applegreen complex

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