A survivor of the Creeslough blast has spoken of his ordeal as medics fight to save his hearing.
Jason Black lost his cousin Martina Martin in the horror explosion which ripped through an Applegreen service station in Co Donegal, killing 10 people.
Now Jason, from Letterkenny, has spoken for the first time about the tragic incident which also left several people injured and a community reeling.
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He said: “Three weeks today is a date etched in so many families’ lives and certainly in my own mind forever.
“Now that the cameras are gone from Creeslough the silence has fallen and the numbing reality sets in.
“It’s very hard to speak and even harder to process the constant chilling reminders of what we had to deal with that fateful day.”
Jason, an endurance athlete, shared an update on social media posting a photo of himself in hospital wearing an oxygen mask.
And he spoke of the devastation in the tight-knit village where every family has been affected by the freak explosion on Friday, October 7.
He said: “Others like me I’m sure are holding mentally tight to the good that got done, doing all we could do has become an invisible crutch.
“Mentally I’m afraid to even dare look the other way, I’m sure it’s waiting but that’s for another day.
“Physically I’m fighting hard in hospital, my biggest battle is to hold on to my hearing from the explosion.
“Trapped in my head is that blast, a draining constant reminder.
“Separating the physical from the mental is my mountain right now.
“The ENT specialists are working as fast as they can, and I remind myself daily I’m here while others aren’t, and that rawness breaks my heart.
“But one day, some day, we will get stronger. We must. We will stand tall... we will survive.”
Jason took part in RTE’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week in early 2020 and was one of 28 civilians set gruelling challenges by four elite army Rangers.
He said at the time: “It’s non-stop, simply nothing like a TV programme... It’s no joke, this is full metal jacket.”
On Friday gardai were given an extension to preserve the scene of the blast to allow for further forensic examination.
Detectives have followed more than 500 lines of inquiry with more than 260 statements taken since the explosion.
A global company that specialises in the investigation and testing of energy systems, Det Norske Veritas, is on site along with crime scene managers from the Garda National Technical Bureau.
Yesterday it was announced that a shuttle bus service to Letterkenny serving Creeslough would become operational from next Tuesday.
Bus services in the area were disrupted following the explosion and the temporary shuttle will stay in place until the main road reopens. On Friday the HSE confirmed it would continue to offer support in Creeslough though its walk-in service in the village will cease.
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