‘Just can’t believe it’: Couple have been visiting Creeslough since childhood

A couple from County Armagh who have been regular visitors to Creeslough since their childhoods have spoken of their devastation at a tragedy that has claimed ten lives.

Henry and Julie Jordan from Lurgan came to their Dunfanaghy holiday home on Thursday.

A day later, the heart was ripped from the area when an explosion at a filling station in nearby Creeslough killed ten and injured eight others.

On Sunday morning, Henry and Julie laid a bunch of flowers close to the scene.

“We have been staying here since we were children,” Julie said.

“We used to come here with our parents when we were younger. We have had our own house in Dunfanaghy for the last 17 years.”

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On their way to Dunfanaghy, the couple, as they always did, drove past Lafferty’s shop.

Julie said: “It was pouring with rain at the time and there was one of those large ice cream cones at the door. We joked that we should stop for an ice cream.

“We would stop regularly in the shop. We just can’t believe it.”

The couple were playing golf at Dunfanaghy Golf Club on Friday afternoon at the time of the explosion.

Julie said: “We saw all the fire engines going past. When we went onto the golf club someone told us that we wouldn’t get home because the road had been closed.”

Five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe and her father, Robert Garwe (50) who was originally from Zimbabwe, Catherine O’Donnell (39) and her son James Monaghan (13) were among those killed.

The tragedy also claimed the lives of James O’Flaherty (48), Jessica Gallagher (24), Martin McGill (49), Hugh Kelly (59), Martina Martin (49) and 14-year-old Leona Harper.

One male in his 20s remains in a critical condition in St. James Hospital, Dublin. 

Julie said: “It is just so sad. You think about that wee girl of five and how she had just started school. You just wonder how would you cope.

After laying flowers, plucked from their garden in Dunfanaghy at the sombre scene, she added: “We just felt that we wanted to do something. We just wanted to stop by.”