Six victims have been identified among the ten people who tragically lost their lives in a massive gas explosion at a petrol station in Ireland.
Teenage rugby player Leona Harper, 23-year-old former design student Jessica Gallagher, shop worker Martina Martin, Hughie Kellie, Catherine O’Donnell and their 14-year-old son James have been named among the dead.
Jessica Gallagher, 23, has been named as one of the ten victims killed in a massive gas explosion at a petrol station in Creeslough, Co Donegal yesterday.
Miss Gallagher, a native of Creeslough, lived in an apartment above the gas station with her boyfriend, who was seriously injured in the explosion. He was rushed to hospital where she remains in serious condition.
A friend told MailOnline: ‘Jessica studied design at a university in Paris and traveled extensively in Asia.
She had moved in with her boyfriend above the gas station store and was home when the explosion ripped through the building.
Her boyfriend had been about to take a shower. I think he is being treated in a Dublin hospital and he is in a very bad way.
‘Jessica was a lovely little girl, she grew up in Creeslough and went to school here. She had many friends who are understandably distraught over the news.
Leona Harper’s devastated brother Anthony posted a photo of them together on Facebook. He wrote: ‘I don’t know where to start Leona, couldn’t have asked for a better little sister. You’d go crazy if I put this of yours up now because it’s an old picture of you. Leona I love you very much and we all love you very much xx.’
Letterkenny Rugby Club also posted a tribute to Leona, stating: ‘We are heartbroken to say that our worst fears have been confirmed. Leona Harper tragically lost her life yesterday at Creeslough.
‘Leona was a talented rugby player and an important part of our U14 girls team… No words feel strong enough in a time of deep sorrow like this.
Catherine O’Donell is believed to have been with her 14-year-old son James when they were caught up in the explosion at the Applegreen petrol station in Creeslough, County Donegal.
A five-year-old girl who had gone to the store to buy her mother a birthday cake is also believed to be among the victims along with her father, MailOnline has learned.
An alleged gas explosion destroyed the Applegreen service station in Creeslough, a small town of less than 400 people in Co Donegal in the north of the republic, about 30 miles from the UK border, it destroyed the convenience store and flattened adjacent buildings. at about 3:00 p.m. yesterday.
Having announced three deaths last night, the Irish Police, An Garda Siochana, announced today that the death toll had risen to ten, with four men, three women, two teenagers and a girl of primary school age having lost life in the blast.
As the community comes to terms with the tragedy, locals have gone to great lengths to offer each other support. All day today, The Coffee Pot coffee shop has been handing out free food and drinks to rescuers and distressed villagers.
A family friend told MailOnline: ‘It’s heartbreaking, she was just a girl. She had gone to the store with her dad to buy her mom a birthday cake and they were caught in the blast. She had just started school too. Her mother is absolutely devastated, the whole family is. This is just a small town and this incident has really hit us very hard.’
It has now emerged that one of the victims was a girl who had gone to the service station store to buy her mother a birthday cake.
Eight people were taken to local hospital on Friday, seven in stable condition while one was flown to Dublin in critical condition.
The huge search operation that followed the explosion has now ended, police said.
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Gardai will continue with an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the blast as another eight people continue to receive treatment in hospital.
A search operation at the site has been completed and no further victims have been located, Gardai said.
The Garda Technical Office has begun an examination of the scene, with the assistance of other expert agencies, including the Health and Safety Authority and the National Utilities. The local medical examiner and the State Pathologist’s Office have been notified and post-mortem examinations will be conducted in the coming days.
Garda Family Liaison Officers have also been appointed and are providing support and information to those affected by the incident.
Hot drinks, water and food were distributed to members of the emergency services and the media, while a local guard was seen comforting a crying woman as she was led to the scene. Around 1:15 p.m. m., the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service left Creeslough.
Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described the blast as an “unthinkable tragedy”, while Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins called the blast “terrible”.
A mother and her young child are also feared to be among at least nine people killed. They had been inside the store at the Applegreen service station. They had called the store just after classes ended, locals told MailOnline.
Another victim of the blast, which destroyed an apartment complex attached to the store, is said to be a local farmer in his 60s.
The hero villagers formed a human chain to try to remove the rubble from the destroyed gas station store and rescue some of those trapped inside. They managed to free a seriously injured girl, about fifteen years old, but were unable to communicate with her friend.
Within 10 minutes of the explosion, emergency services arrived at a chaotic and traumatic scene.
When emergency personnel arrived to find massive concrete blocks, rubble and rubble where the building once stood, the scale of the operation to come became clear.
Civilians were already there using car jacks to try to free trapped people from the large piles of debris.
The huge rescue operation involved the Irish Coast Guard, Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter 118, Irish Air Corps 112, Northern Ireland Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), Irish Community Air Ambulance , Northern Ireland Search and Rescue, Donegal Mountain Rescue, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service cardiology team, Donegal County Council Civil Defense and dozens of people from the Creeslough community.
Milford Garda Station Superintendent David Kelly said he didn’t have to communicate with his colleagues, they all showed up to do his duty.
Members of the Garda (police) from Letterkenny, Ballyshannon and Buncrana appeared when news of the tragedy spread.
“That’s what it’s like to be in Donegal – we look out for each other,” Superintendent Kelly said.
‘We have to think about the people from the service who attended. Resources were initially deployed from the Millford Garda district, assisted by members who were off duty.
“I’m proud to say I didn’t have to ask people to report to the service, they walked in.”
Source: https://wikisoon.com/
