A boy who lost his dad in the Creeslough explosion has helped lead a heartwarming fundraiser with the help of a truck drive.
The thoughtful fundraiser included over 400 trucks on a convoy across Donegal.
Hamish O’Flaherty, 12, lost his dad James in the Creeslough tragedy on October 7, 2022.
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley's daughter's heartbreaking words as she spots mum's search team.
The explosion at the Applegreen Service Station in the village saw 10 people killed.
The truck run was organised by Colin Kilpatrick, who was one of the first people on the scene the day of the explosion.
Event organisers confirmed that 432 trucks took part in the ‘Trucking for Creeslough’ fundraising event on Saturday afternoon.
The truckers raised thousands for the families affected by the Creeslough blast.
Colin rushed to help move debris and comforted the injured until ambulances arrived.
Entry to take part in the Trucking for Creeslough event was €30 per truck.
The trucks set off from Donegal Road, Ballybofey, through Stranorlar and into Letterkenny, then past Mountain Top, Kilmacrennan, Termon and into Creeslough.
Mr Kilpatrick told Donegal Live that his co-driver Hamish, who helped lead the convoy, did a brilliant job.
He said: "When we were in Creeslough we heard there were still trucks at the Mountain Top. They came from everywhere this morning, from Dublin, Cavan, Longford, you name it.
"The word just got out and went from there. I was there on the day of the explosion in Creeslough and wanted to try and do something."
10 people lost their lives and eight were injured in the explosion at Lafferty’s supermarket in Creeslough on October 7.
The fatalities were five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe and her dad Robert Garwe, 50, Catherine O'Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13. Leona Harper, 14, Jessica Gallagher, 24, James O'Flaherty, 48, Martin McGill, 49, Martina Martin, 49 and Hugh Kelly, 59 also lost their lives.
The event was organised with the help of all at Bernard Long & Son Transport, Ballybofey.
In an interview with The Journal, Dean McLaughlin, who has helped to organise the truck run, said that the event was Kilpatrick’s idea and that Kilpatrick "felt that he wanted to give even more back to the community".
Gardaí gave full support and directed traffic throughout the event.
After the truck run, the trucks made their way to the Silver Tassie Hotel via Milford for an auction to raise funds for the victims of the tragedy.
A documentary will air on TG4 this Wednesday at 9.30pm about the response to the Creeslough explosion.
Colin Kilpatrick will be featured on the opening episode of the new current affairs series entitled, Iniúchadh TG4.
The documentary, Iniúchadh TG4 - An Craoslach, looks at how locals from the Donegal village came together to help rescue those trapped before emergency services attended the scene.
Henry Gallagher, from Treantagh near Letterkenny, has revealed in the new TG4 series how he remained in the cab of his excavator for a total of 24 hours helping to remove rubble until the last person was recovered.
Henry told the Irish Mirror: "You just see a river of high-vis vests (behind me) and I know that among that, there are families waiting on news.
"The only way that they are going to get the news of a loved one being taken out, is for me to get in. I wanted them out. I would have stayed in that digger for ages after that just until I got the bodies out.
"I done what any other person would have done. The ordinary people were amazing. I mean I’ve heard stories of people running into the building, people bringing other people out of the building."
The series, which is presented by journalist Kevin Magee, airs on TG4 on Wednesday, February 8 at 9:30pm and will also be available to view worldwide on the TG4 Player.
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