Creeslough victims: Names released of ten people killed in Donegal explosion tragedy

The 10 people killed in an explosion at an Irish petrol station have been named by police as 48-year-old James O’Flaherty, 24-year-old Jessica Gallagher, 49-year-old Martin McGill, 39-year-old Catherine O’Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan, 59-year-old Hugh Kelly, 49-year-old Martina Martin, 50-year-old Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, and 14-year-old Leona Harper.

Irish premier Micheal Martin has met those who were admitted to hospital after the service station explosion in Co Donegal.

The Taoiseach also met with the medical team who were on duty on the day of the explosion in the village of Creeslough, as well as members of Letterkenny fire station.

Accompanying Mr Martin were Agriculture Minister and Donegal TD Charlie McConalogue and deputy leader Leo Varadkar.

Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said there were “very traumatic scenes” on Friday afternoon.

“Emergency responders from right across Co Donegal and wider and our colleagues in Northern Ireland responded to very, very traumatic scenes, and then processed into dealing with recovery of fatalities at the scene,” he said.

He said most of the police involved are local.

“These are the people they work with and the people that they meet on a daily basis,” he said.

Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty told reporters that what has happened will have “a huge impact to a small rural community”.

He said: “They are all local people. They are all very much involved in the community. They were all people who were shopping in their local shop."

Irish police said a man in his 20s remains in a critical condition in St James’s Hospital in Dublin following Friday’s blast.

The seven other surviving casualties continue to receive treatment in Letterkenny University Hospital and remain in a stable condition.

Bishop of Raphoe Alan McGuckian said the people of Creeslough, Co Donegal, are “living through a nightmare of shock and horror”.

Addressing the congregation during Sunday mass at St Michael’s Church, the bishop said: “At this time, you the people of Creeslough are living through a nightmare of shock and horror since the very heart of the community was deeply wounded on Friday afternoon."

Irish police say they continue to investigate all of the circumstances into the cause of a fatal explosion at a premises in Creeslough, County Donegal on Friday 7th October, 2022.

The investigation is being coordinated from an incident room at Milford Garda Station.

The Garda Technical Bureau, with assistance from other agencies, will continue to examine the scene, which remains cordoned off. These examinations are likely to continue over the coming days. Traffic diversions on the N56 at the scene of the incident remain in place.

A total of 10 fatalities have been confirmed arising from this fatal explosion. The remains of the deceased are at Letterkenny University Hospital where State Post Mortems have commenced under the direction of Dr. Heidi Okkers, Assistant State Pathologist. These Post Mortems will continue over the next few days. Results will not be released for operational reasons.