The 10 people killed in an explosion at an Irish petrol station have been named by police. Emergency services have been at the scene since the blast ripped through the Applegreen service station at Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday.
A total of 10 people died and a number needed hospital treatment. On Sunday police officially named the 10 victims.
They are 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 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.
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.
“We have very, very young children. The schools are going to be impacted, the GAA clubs are going to be impacted, the local church, in general the community is going to be severely impacted by this incident.
“But it is a very strong community as was seen here on Friday afternoon with the response of families, friends and neighbours who came to people’s rescue. So I am sure the community will come together and will support each other.”
The blast is thought to have been a freak accident. Rescue teams worked around the clock over the weekend to save people following the explosion which shook the small town just after 3.20pm.
Tributes have begun to emerge to some of the victims. The Mirror reported rugby player Leona was the first to be named. She was at the shop buying icecream when the explosion went off.
Her father, Hugh, and mum, Donna, described the past 24 as "hell" while her brother, Anthony posted on Facebook that he "couldn't have asked for a better sister".
He wrote: "I don't no where to begin, Leona I couldnt of asked for a better little sister. You would go mad for me putting this up of you now because it's an old picture of you. Leona I love you so much and we all love you so much xx"
The youngest victim, Shauna Flanagan Garwe, aged five, and her dad Robert Garwe, 50, had gone to the shop to buy her mum a birthday cake, according to MailOnline.
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