Creeslough explosion: Little girl asked rescuers if she could go back for her ice-cream

A little girl pulled from the debris of the Creeslough explosion on Friday asked rescuers if she could go back into the shop for ice-cream.

Creeslough man Brian Dolan was among a group of locals who rushed to the scene of an explosion that claimed ten lives.

Brian was on the scene within minutes and, after entering the destroyed premises, found a girl close to where the ice-cream machine had been located. The young girl had been in the shop to get ice-cream.

"She wasn't as bad as others but she was very disorientated,” Mr Dolan said.

"All she wanted to do was go back and get her ice-cream. She must have been in the shop for ice-cream. I just lifted her up and brought her out.”

Brian’s wife, Margaret Ann, missed the blast by mere minutes. A receipt from a transaction in the post office was printed at 3.08pm with the blast occurring just minutes later.

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“It was so close,” Mr Dolan said. “It is a scary thing to have happened. We are all in the middle of it, but we could have been one step further up the line.

“Normally she does her banking at 4 o’clock on a Friday, but she decided to go a bit earlier because we were so busy that day.

“She went away as usual. Minutes afterwards, I heard the boom and I ran up.”

What greeted Brian and other locals was a horrifying scene. Debris was thrown across the forecourt and the front facade of the building destroyed.

Mr Dolan said: “You don’t really think and you just dig in. Radiators, panels, you name it was thrown about just trying to get a path in. It didn’t feel as if it took very long. 

“You go into auto drive. The people of the community were brilliant. Dozens of people helped. 

“We knew it was serious. We had to get a road clear for the emergency services. We just did what we were able to do.

“We knew who was there. We knew by the cars and we knew who worked there. I don’t think anyone was thinking about what they were doing. There was no plan and no real thoughts.”

Ten people, among them a five-year-old girl and two teenagers, were killed.

Creeslough was numbed into silence as the shock of the destruction took a grip.

Mr Dolan said: “It was just the usual Friday. There was nothing special about it. The shop, post office and beauty salon were all busy. School buses had pulled in and you had kids going in for their treats. That is what goes on in this little part of the world on a Friday.

“They were just normal members of the community going about a normal routine on a Friday and it was just a normal day until a boom came over our wee parish.”