Creeslough: ‘A tragedy beyond belief’

Ten red candles flicker on the altar in St Michael’s Church in Creeslough.

Each one is in honour of the ten people who were killed when a horrific explosion tore through a busy filling station on Friday afternoon.

At a special vigil on Saturday night, with the true scale of the devastation just beginning to sink, the Bishop of Raphoe, Alan McGuckian SJ, lit ten candles.

The candlelit display will remain for a week. Symbols of remembrance and also of hope.

“We are defined by community,” Fr John Joe Duffy told an ashen-faced congregation in a packed-to-overflowing church that included emergency service personnel who had assisted in a gruelling and harrowing operation. 

“Our community has been a great source of support and strength to those who have been directly impacted by the terrible tragedy that took place.

“It is with each other’s support that we will reach out to those who are directly impacted upon, it is with that support that we will chart our way through what is the tsunami of grief that is hitting us at this time.”

Emergency services rushed to the scene after the alarm was raised at around 3:20pm on Friday. Crews were on site within ten minutes. They arrived to what was described as a ‘very traumatic and confused scene’.

Six brigade crews, involving 65 members of the Fire Service, were mobilised by Donegal County County Council, its Director of Emergency Services, Gary Martin, said. A structural engineer and road services personnel were also deployed.

Eight emergency ambulances sped to the scene with a further three tasked on Saturday morning, JJ McGowan, Chief Ambulance Officer with HSE West, said. Emergency services from Northern Ireland were also involved. 

Crews worked overnight to clear the rubble from the forecourt. They were aided by a team of specialised officers using cameras, listening devices and sniffer dogs.

Teams of local contractors, farmers and other volunteers helped to clear the debris.

“You go into auto drive,” said Brian Dolan, who was among the first at the scene. “The people of the community were brilliant. Dozens of people helped.  

“We knew who was there. We knew 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.”

Gardaí from Milford Garda Station responded to the call initially with assistance subsequently drafted in from stations in Letterkenny, Ballyshannon and Buncrana. A team from the Garda National Technical Bureau arrived in Creeslough on Saturday morning.

Gardaí are working with the local coroner, Dr Denis McCauley, and liaison has been arranged with the bereaved families.

Political and Church leaders converged on Creeslough on Saturday evening.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill and SDLP Leader Collum Eastwood were among the attendance at a church service.

“The entire nation is mourning,” Mr Martin said. “It is truly shocking and tragic.

“One is greeted with a terrible silence, reflecting an enormous loss on a scale that no-one can comprehend.”

Nightlights illuminated the skyline, but a dark cloud hung over Creeslough on Friday night. The noise of the machinery was all that punctuated a haunting night.

A sense of numbness, helplessness, was felt by those who stood in silent hope and prayer since an ordinary Friday had turned into anything but.

Deputy Pearse Doherty visited the shellshocked town and described ‘an eerie silence’ as loved ones of some of the unaccounted waited for news.

“It is just surreal,” he said. “It is a very, very dark day for the community. It is heartbreaking.”

People reported hearing the explosion several kilometres away and the ferocity was such that windows in other buildings nearby were broken.

The main building was destroyed in the blast at the complex, which houses a filling station, shop and post office as well as an apartment block.

Falling debris caused damage to cars on the forecourt and shocked onlookers watched as a scene of sheer devastation unfolded by what Gardaí have called a ‘tragic accident’.

On Friday night, three fatalities were confirmed. By Saturday morning, a further three deaths were known. 

At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, the number was up at 10 with a search and recovery operation having become a search and check phase.

The remains of the deceased were taken to Letterkenny University Hospital where State Post Mortems began under the direction of Dr. Heidi Okkers, Assistant State Pathologist. 

One man in his 20s remains in a critical condition in St. James Hospital, Dublin.  The other seven surviving casualties continue to receive treatment in Letterkenny University Hospital and remain in stable condition.

On Sunday, numbers became names: James O Flaherty; Jessica Gallagher; Martin McGill; Catherine O Donnell and her son James Monaghan; Hugh Kelly; Martina Martin; Robert Garwe and his daughter

Shauna Flanagan Garwe; and Leona Harper.

Fr Duffy: “The heart has been torn out of our community. This is a tragedy that is beyond belief. It is an accident beyond our imagining.

“This has happened in the heart of our community. This is our community, this is the shop where we all meet.”

The complex housed a filling station, the village’s only shop including a butcher’s counter and deli, the post office, a beautician’s and apartments. It was the hub and the heart of the community.

Before Friday, Creeslough was just your usual rural Irish town.

Bridie Gallagher, ‘The Girl From Donegal’, is Creeslough’s most famous daughter.

In 1998, Lawrence Donegan gave up his role as the Scotland Correspondent with The Guardian. He worked briefly with The Tir Chonaill Tribune and played Gaelic football with St Michael’s during a period when he wrote a book about his experience in rural Donegal. The title of his book, ‘No News At Throat Lake’, was pointer to the sleepy village.

Donegan explained ‘Throat Lake’ the anglicised version of the name: “There was a tiny lake at the top of the village that gathered a lot of rainwater from the surrounding hills and leaked only a little away through a tiny stream. Where did all the water go? It had been swallowed by the hungry lake, obviously. Why not call the village Hungry Lake? It wasn't poetic enough.”

Since Friday, the world has seen Throat Lake through the most devastating of lenses.

Dr Paul Stewart, who has been the local GP in Creeslough for 23 years, has said that ‘the work is only just beginning’, as the area comes to terms with immeasurable grief. 

“It is going to take a long time for these scars to heal,” Dr Stewart said. “It was horrific. We had to wait. We knew that there were people who hadn’t come home. Waiting was the hard bit.”

When Jessica Gallagher was studying at the International Fashion Academy in Paris, one of her assignments involved working on something related to home. She produced a picture of Muckish mountain beneath a moonlit sky.

On Sunday evening, against a backdrop of a similar moonlight, people holding candles straddled the roadside as Jessica’s remains were brought to her home in Killoughcarran

In Creeslough, now like never before, their hearts are like their mountains.